UC-NRLF 


$B    52    ^bM 


.<r'7^ 


u  ii  J  J  E  S  E 


:;5||kIilBASSl 


Kc^ 


»^ 


:M?<>. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/banquettohisexceOOburlrich 


Ull  K )  UrCnJ<  i  Cuu  ■■  ZJl/y>£ 


BANQUET 


TO 


His  Excellency  Anson  Burlingame, 

aI^d  his  associates 


OF 


THE  CHINESE  EMBASSY, 


BY 


THE    CITIZEls^S    OF    ]S"^EW    YORK, 


ON 


TUESDAY,  JUNE  23,  1868. 


New  York  : 
SUN  book:   j^njd   job   I^RINXI^nTG-   hoxjse, 

1868. 


JJSl(o5 

\  B7/V5 


CAHPENTIEil 


»    «       e    »       r 

»    f  /c    r       t 


BANQUET 


A  number  of  citizens  of  N^ew  York,'conspicuous  in  various 
depai-tments  of  affairs,  in  view  of  the  novelty  and  importance 
of  the  mission  from  the  Chinese  empire,  which  recently  landed 
upon  our  shores,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Bur- 
lingame,  the  head  of  the  Embassy : 

"New  York,  May  22d,  1868. 

"  To  the  Honorable  Anson  Bxirlingarne^  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenijyoteiitiary  for  China  to  the  Treaty 
Powers. 

"  The  undersigned,  citizen's  of  JS'ew  York,  desiring  to  ex- 
press their  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  mission,  of 
which  you  are  the  distinguished  head,  and  wishing  to  convey, 
in  an  appropriate  manner,  their  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
interests  confided  to  you,  respectfully  tender  to  you  and  your 

M183704 


associates  a  public  dinner,  at  the  earliest  day  convenient  to 
yourself. 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir, 

"  Your  obedient  servants : 


William  E.  Dodge, 
Alex.  T.  Stewart, 
A.  A.  Low, 
Peter  Cooper, 
Jonathan  Sturges, 
Charles  P.  Daly, 
David  Dudley  Field, 
Marshall  O.  Roberts, 
Elliot  C.  Cowdin, 
Wm.  H.  Fogg, 
S.  B.  Chittenden, 
George  Opdyke, 
Wni.  G.  Lambert, 
John  Armstrong, 
John  C.  Hamilton, 
L.  B.  Wyman, 
Albon  P.  Man, 
Charles  S.  Smith, 
Oliver  Carpenter, 
William  Borden, 
Edward  Cooper, 
William  H.  Lee, 
Frank  E.  Howe, 
Charles  E.  Beebe, 
Geo.  W.  Lane, 
Charles  E.  Hill, 
John  Jay, 
M.  H.  Grinnell, 
H.  B.  Claflin, 
John  C.  Green, 
Samuel  B.  Ruggles, 
Moses  Taylor, 
John  Caswell, 
R.  M.  Olyphant, 
Abram  S.  Hewitt, 
R.  W.  Weston, 
Wm.  F.  Cary,  Jr., 
Geo.  Bliss, 
James  Low, 
William  Cotheal, 


Wm.  Allen  Butler, 
Richard  Butler, 
Jos.  B.  Brush, 
J.  Warren  Goddard, 
Wm.  Watson, 
M.  W.  Cooper, 

D.  Willis  James, 
Isaac  H.  Bailey, 
Jackson  S.  Schultz, 
Francis  Baker, 
Geo.  D.  Phelps, 
Solon  Humphrey, 
F.  J.  Fithian, 
Ric'd  Schell, 

H.  V.  Butler, 
Wm.  L.  Cogswell, 
Sam'l  OsgooJ, 
O.  E.  Wood. 
Chas.  J.  Martin, 
John  D.  Jones, 
Charles  H.  Marshall, 
W.  E.  Dodge,  Jr., 

E.  P.  Fabbri, 
Jno.  S.  Williams, 
Wm.  T.  Coleman, 
William  T.  Blodgett, 
John  H.  Sherwood, 
William  A.  Budd, 
George  P.  Putnam, 
William.  Blake, 
Chas.  L.  Tiffany, 
Chas.  Lanier, 

Le  Grand  Lockwood, 
James  H.  Benedict, 
B.  W.  Bonney, 
Benj.  B.  Sherman, 
Edw'd  W.  Corlis, 
Dexter  A.  Hawkins, 
Giles  E.  Taintor, 


Seth  B.  Hunt, 

A.  R.  Wetmore, 
Edwards  Pierrepont, 
John  Taylor  Johnston, 
Thomas  N.  Dale, 
William  M.  Evarts, 
Josiah  M.  Fiske, 
Dan'l  F.  Appleton, 
John  H.  Hall, 
Nahum  Sullivan, 
Wilson  G.  Hunt, 

B.  H.  Hutton, 
Hiram  Barney, 

Allan  McLaiie,  • 

W.  M.  Vermilye, 
W.  Butler  Duncan, 
Henry  Clews, 
Isaac  Sherman, 
George  W.  Blunt, 

D.  B.  Eaton, 
Joseph  H.  Choate, 
G.  C.  Ward, 

Le  Grand  B,  Cannon, 
Henry  A.  Smythe, 
H,  G.  Marquand, 
Thomas  Allen, 
Sam'l  L.  M.  Barlow, 
Charles  H.  Russell, 
Joseph  Sampson, 
Charles  P.  Kirkland, 
Robert  H.  Berdell, 
S.  J.  Tilden, 
Eugene  Kelly, 
John  A.  Stewart, 

E.  L.  Hedden, 
Augustus  Sell  ell, 
Cornelius  K.  Garrison, 
John  E.  Williams, 
Francis  M.  Babcock, 
Theodore  Roosevelt, 
Frederick  A.  Conkling, 
Charles  G.  Landon, 
William  A.  Wheelock, 
Edward  W.  Lambert,  M.D. 
L.  M.  Bates, 

Abram  Wakeman, 
Charles  L.  Anthony, 
Will'm  Orton, 


Dan'l  C.  Blodgett, 
John  Dowley, 
Isaac  T.  Smith, 
Chas.  B.  Collins, 

C.  D.  Smith,  M.D. 
B.  M.  C.  Durfee, 
Wm.  A.  Guest, 
Hiram  Walbridge, 
Sam'l  Blatchford, 
Richard  P.  Dana, 
Paul  S.  Forbes, 

E.  W.  Stoughton, 
Samuel  G.  Ward, 
I.  N.  Phelps, 

O.  D.  F.  Grant, 

D.  Van  Nostrand, 
Nath'l  Hayden, 
Paul  SpoflPord, 
Henry  L.  Pierson,  Jr., 
W.  N.  Weff, 
George  Bliss,  Jr., 

M.  K.  Jesup, 
David  Dows, 
Elias  Wade,  Jr., 
Anson  G.  P.  Stokes, 
Charles  Denison, 
Charles  A.  Peabody, 
James  D.  Smith, 
William  H.  Caswell, 
Thomas  M.  Markoe,  M.D. 
Robert  H.  McCurdy, 

F.  H.  Delano, 
Ogden  Haggerty, 
J.  F.  Kensett, 

S.  D.  Babcock, 
Geo.  B.  Butler, 
J.  J.  Donaldson, 
Rufus  F.  Andrews, 
J.  F.  Bailey, 
Josiah  O.  Low, 
A.  Augustus  Low, 
Henry  F.  Spaulding, 
Chas.  F.  Livermore, 
Benj.  H.  Fields, 
Wm.  A.  Booth, 
Geo.  A.  Fellows, 
Thos.  McElrath, 
Thos.  C.  Acton, 


James  Brown, 
Edwin  Hoyt, 
Geo.  D.  Phelps,  Jr., 
W.  R.  Stewart, 
Jos.  H.  Brown, 
Nath'l  Sands, 
C.  E.  Detmold, 
Jeremiah  Lothrop, 
Walter  M.  Smith. 


Jas.  M.  Constable, 

Francis  Lieber, 

Stewart  Brown, 

Hamilton  Fish, 

I.  Green  Pierson, 

Sam'l  Wetmore, 

Edmund  Randolph  Robinson, 

B.  F.  Fahnestock. 

WilUam  M.  Vail. 


Westminster  Hotel,  New  York,  J 
May  30,  1868.     S 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  courteous  letter  of  the  23d  inst.,  inviting  myself  and 
my  associates  to  a  public  dinner. 

I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  honor  you  thus  do  us,  and  it  will 
give  us  the  greatest  pleasure  to  meet  you  in  the  manner  you 
desire. 

We  leave  for  Washington  on  Monday  morning  next,  but  I 
anticipate  that  I  shall  be  free  to  return  and  meet  you  on 
Tuesday,  the  23d  of  June,  if  that  day  be  convenient  to  you. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient 
humble  servant, 

ANSON  BUELINGAME. 


To  Messrs.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  Alex.  T.  Stewart,  A.  A.  Low,  Peter  Cooper, 
Jonathan  Sturges,  Charles  P.  Daly,  David  Dudley  Field,  Mar- 
SHAHi  O.  Roberts,  Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  William  H.  Fogg,  and  others, 
New  York. 


On  tlie  receipt  of  Mr.  Burlingame's  acceptance,  the  follow- 
ing gentlemen  were  appointed  a  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments : 

Messrs.  Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Chairman^  Charles  P.  Daly, 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  Marshall  O.  Eoberts,  William  H.  Fogg, 
Treasurer^  Edwards  Pierrepont,  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  John 
F!  Kensett,  Sam'l  L.  M.  Barlow,  Isaac  H.  Bailey,  Henry 
Clews,  Clias.  S.  Smith,  Secret(wy. 

The  Banquet  was  given  at  Delmonico's,  corner  of  Four- 
teenth Street  and  Fifth  Avenue ;  the  hall  being  tastefully 
adorned  with  Cliinese  and  American  flags,  and  the  tables 
beautifully  decorated  with  flowers. 


The  following  gentlemen  were  present  as  invited  guests  : 

His  Excellency,  the  Hon.  Peuben  E.  Fenton,  Governor  of  the 
State  of  IS^ew  York  ;  Lieutenant-Governor  Stewart  L.  Wood- 
ford, His  Honor,  John  T.  Hoffman,  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
New  York  ;  His  Excellency,  the  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame ; 
His  Excellency,  the  Hon.  Chih  Tajen  ; '  His  Excellency,  the 
Hon.  Sun  Tajen ;  His  Excellency,  the  Hon.  Blacque-Bey, 
Turkish  Minister ;  Rear-Admiral  Baron  Mequet,  French 
Navy ;  Bear- Admiral  S.  W.  Godon,  U.  S.  Navy  ;  Hon.  Isaac 
Livermore,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts ;  Major-General 
Daniel  Butterfield,  U.  S.  A. ;  Major-General  Q.  A.  Gil- 
more,  U.  S.  A. ;  the  Hon.  J.  McLeary  Brown,  Secretary  of 
the  Cliinese  Legation ;  Fung  Laoyeli  and  Teh  Laoyeh  of  the 
Chinese  Embassy;  Hon.  Townsend  Harris,  Ex-Minister  to 
Japan  ;  Hon.  John  E.  Ward,  Ex-Minister  to  China ;  Bev. 
Samuel  Osgood,  D.  D. ;  Prof.  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D. ;  Hon. 


James  O.  Putnam,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  ;  Hon.  Horace  Greeley, 
of  the  New  York  Tribune;  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  of  the  N. 
Y.  Express  ;  David  M.  Stone,  Esq.,  of  the  ]S[.  Y.  Journal  of 
Commerce;  Hon.  Henry  J.  Kaymond,  of  the  I^T.  Y.  Times  ;  I. 
Chamberlain,  Esq.,  of  the  ]^.  Y.  World ;  Charles  A.  Dana, 
Esq.,  of  The  Sun ;  Augustus  Maverick,  Esq.,  of  the  Evening 
Post^  Edwin  L.  Godkin,  Esq.,  of  the  Nation;  George 
Wilkes,  Esq.,  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Times  ;  Col.  Charles  D.  Bos- 
ton, U.  S.' Agricultural  Commissioner  to  China. 

After  the  blessing  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Osgood,  the 
company  partook  of  a  sumptuous  dinner. 


At  9  o'clock,  the  Bresident,  His  Excellency  the  Governor, 
called  the  company  to  order  and  welcomed  the  guests  in  the 
following  terms : 

SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR  FENTON. 

It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  join  the  citizens  of  New 
York  in  extending  to  our  distinguished  visitors  from  the 
Government  of  China  a  cordial  welcome.  (Applause.)  The 
relations  in  which  our  nation  stands  to  the  Chinese  are  mark- 
ed and  interesting.  In  politics,  history,  and  geography,  the 
two  nationalities  present  contrasts,  suggest  comparisons,  and 
indicate  duties  of  the  greatest  importance  and  interest.  The 
oldest  constituted  Government  in  the  East  invites  the  west- 
ward tendency  and  expansion  of  thought  to  return,  cultured,  as 
it  is,  by  varied  experience  and  much  progress  in  civilization. 


9 

In  other  words,  the  most  fixed,  and,  heretofore,  the  most  se- 
chided  society  extends  a  friendly  salutation  to  the  youngest, 
the  most  liberal,  and  progressive  of  nations  ;  and  I  cannot 
doubt  that  results  of  great  value  to  humanity  will  follow  the 
interview.  It  is  our  destiny,  under  Providence,  to  open  up 
a  nurseiy  of  freedom,  equality,  and  progress  for  the  imitation 
and  profit  of  productive  Europe  on  the  east,  and  populous  and 
wealthy  Asia  on  the  west.  (Cheers.)  It  was  my  fortune 
to  be  associated  with  Mr.  Burlingame  for  several  years  in 
Congress,  and  I  rejoiced  in  his  selection,  early  in  the  admin- 
istration of  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  represent  our  country  at  the  old- 
est, the  most  populous,  and  in  many  respects  the  most  inter- 
esting of  the  governments  of  the  Eastern  continent.  His  age 
and  education,  his  fidelity  to  the  leading  ideas  of  human  pro- 
gress, and  his  ambition,  seemed  to  me  auspicious  of  enlarged 
intercourse  with  this  numerous  and  wealthy  people,  and  of  an 
advance  in  civilization,  much  more  than  the  most  sanguine 
hopes  could  expect,  and  which  the  persons  and  object  of  this 
Embassy  that  honors  us  to-night,  enable  us  more  luUy  to  re- 
alize. Xo  event  in  modern  diplomacy  or  intercourse  has 
equal  significance,  or  promises  so  much  of  benefit  to  the 
human  race.  A  country  embracing  in  one  nationality  nearly 
one-half  the  population  of  the  earth,  and  older  than  any  other 
government,  principality,  or  empire  since  the  world  began, 
could  not  fail  to  be  to  us  an  object  of  deep  and  unremitting 
inquiry.  Its  early  characters  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in 
ancient  history;  even  its  traditions  are  full  of  admirable 
study,  and  its  literature,  although  of  value  in  establishing  a 
firmer  social  system,  was  but  little  known  to  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. It  was  even  but  partially  understood,  that  the  benefits 
of  popular  education  were  so  widely  diffused,  and  that  distinc- 
tion in  public  life  and  eligibility  to  high  public  trust,  were  at- 
tained only  by  successful  scholarship.     So  it  is,  that  a  nation, 


10 

whose  sources  of  stability  had  so  long  been  involved  in  mystery, 
whose  system  of  education  and.  attainment  in  science  and  art, 
and  whose  manners  and  policy  were  so  inaccessible  to  us,  and 
yet  so  marvellous  in  their  effect  upon  hundreds  of  millions  of 
people,  could  not  otherwise  than  excite  the  most  profound  soli- 
citude, and,  as  the  prospect  brightens,  for  fuller  intercourse  and 
better  understanding,  by  peaceful  means,  of  heartfelt  congratu- 
lation. (Applause.)  Minister  Burlingame,  we  appreciate  the 
friendliness  and  partiality  of  the  Chinese  Government,  as  re- 
presented by  you  and  your  associates,  in  making  with  us  your 
first  visit  to  the  IS^ations.  We  appreciate  also  the  consideration 
of  your  Government,  in  selecting  one  of  our  countrymen  to  aid 
in  carrying  out  its  enlightened  resolve  to  open  up  friendly  rela- 
tions with  other  countries  of  the  world,  to  advance  civilization, 
and  to  do  more  largely  what  a  nation  may  do,  to  promote  the 
prosperity,  the  fraternity,  and  the  happiness  of  the  human 
race.  I  need  not  say  that  our  national  thought  is  first,  but 
not  alone,  to  make  our  people  most  prosperous,  most  free, 
and  most  just,  and  also  to  actively  extend  our  influence  w4th 
all  nations,  to  pass  every  sea,  to  enter  every  land,  and  with 
commerce,  Christianity,  and  good  will,  to  elevate  and  improve 
all  people.  The  principle  of  our  institution  leads  us  to  the 
recognition  of  freedom  for  others,  as  well  as  among  our  own 
people,  and  we  hail  every  opportunity  to  develop  this  national 
sentiment,  as  essential  to  mutual  benefit  and  permanent  wel- 
fare. We  have,  then,  a  conscious  satisfaction  in  the  encour- 
ao-ement  before  us  of  contributino-  to  the  Chinese  our  noble 
institutions  :  the  freedom,  genius,  enterprise  of  our  people,  and 
of  profiting  by  their  industry,  their  arts,  their  social  harmony, 
and  their  peaceful  inclinations,  in  return.  In  conclusion,  per- 
mit me,  members  of  the  Embassy,  to  welcome  you  in  behalf 
of  the  people  of  the  whole  State,  to  our  chief  city ;  and,  as 
you  leave  our  land  to  visit  others,  in  carrying  out  your  peace- 


11 

ful  mission,  bear  with  you  our  best  wishes  for  the  success  of 
your  work.      (Loud  c'leers.) 


The  President  then  proposed,  as  the  First  Toast,  "  The  President  of  the 
United  States,"  which  was  honored  by  the  company  with  three  cheers, 
and  by  the  music  with  "  Hail,  Columbia ! " 

The  Second  Toast,  "  The  Emperor  of  Cliina,"  received  three  cheers, 
and  a  Chinese  National  Air. 

The  President  then  gave,  as  the  Third  Toast,  "  Our  guests,  His  Ex- 
cellency Anson  Bvirlingame  and  his  associates  of   the  Chinese  Embassy." 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  BURLING AIVIE. 

Mr.  Burlingame,  when  silence  had  succeeded  the  applause 
which  greeted  him,  said :  Mr.  President,  and  Citizens  of  New 
York,  our  first  duty  is  to  thank  you  for  this  cordial  greeting  : 
to  say  to  you  that  it  is  not  only  appreciated  by  us,  but  that  it 
will  be  appreciated  by  the  distant  people  whom  we  represent 
— (hear,  hear,  and  cheers) — to  thank  you  for  this  unanimous 
expression  of  good  will  on  the  part  of  the  great  City  of  New 
York ;  to  thank  you  that,  rising  above  all  local  and  party 
considerations,  you  have  given  a  broad  and  generous  welcome 
to  a  movement  made  in  the  interests  of  all  mankind. 
("  Good,"  and  cheers.)  We  are  but  the  humble  heralds  of  the 
movement.  It  originated  beyond  the  boundaries  of  our  own 
thoughts,  and  has  taken  dimensions  beyond  the  reach  of  our 
most  ardent  hopes.  That  East,  which  men  have  sought  since 
the  days  of  Alexander,  now  itself  seeks  the  West.  (Cheei^s.) 
China,  emerging  from  the  mists  of  time,  but  yesterday  sud- 


1^ 

denly  entered  your  Western  gates,  and  confronts  you  by  its 
representatives  here  to-night.  (Cheers.)  What  have  you  to 
say  to  her  ?  She  comes  with  no  menace  on  her  lips.  She 
comes  with  the  great  doctrine  of  Confucius,  uttered  two  thou- 
sand three  hundred  years  ago,  "  Do  not  unto  others  what 
you  would  not  have  others  do  unto  you."  (Immense  applause.) 
Will  you  not  respond  with  the  more  positive  doctrine  of 
Christianity,  "  We  will  do  unto  others  what  we  would  have 
others  do  unto  us  ?  "  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  She  comes 
with  your  own  international  laws ;  she  tells  you  that  she  is 
willing  to  come  into  relations  according  to  it,  that  she  is  will- 
ing to  abide  by  its  provisions,  that  she  is  willing  to  take  its 
obligations  for  its  privileges.  (Cheers.)  She  asks  you  to  for- 
get your  ancient  prejudices,  to  abandon  your  assumptions  of 
superiority,  and  to  submit  your  questions  with  her,  as  she  pro- 
poses to  submit  her  questions  with  you — to  the  arbitrament 
of  reason.  (Cheers.)  She  wishes  no  war  ;  she  asks  of  you 
not  to  interfere  in  her  internal  affairs.  (Loud  cheers.)  She 
asks  you  not  to  send  her  lecturers  who  are  incompetent  men. 
(Cheers  and  laughter.)  She  asks  you  that  you  will  respect 
the  neutrality  of  her  waters,  and  the  integrity  of  her  territory. 
(Applause.)  She  asks,  in  a  word,  to  be  left  perfectly  free  to 
unfold  herself  precisely  in  that  form  of  civilization  of  which 
she  is  most  capable.  (Cheers.)  She  asks  you  to  give  to  those 
treaties  which  were  made  under  the  pressure  of  war,  a  generous 
and  Christian  construction.  (Cheers.)  Because  you  have 
done  this,  because  the  Western  nations  have  reversed  their 
old  doctrine  of  force,  she  responds,  and,  in  proportion  as  you 
have  expressed  your  good  will,  she  has  come  forth  to  meet 
you ;  and  I  aver,  that  there  is  no  spot  on  this  earth  where 
there  has  been  greater  progress  made  within  the  past  few 
years  than  in  the  empire  of  China.  (Cheers.)  She  has  ex- 
panded her  trade,  she  has  reformed  her  revenue  system,  she 


13 

is  changing  her  miKtary  and  naval  organizations,  she  has 
built  or  established  a  great  school,  where  modem  science  and 
the  foreign  languages  are  to  be  taught.  (Cheers.)  She  has  done 
this  under  every  adverse  circumstance.  She  has  done  this 
after  a  great  war,  lasting  through  thirteen  years,  a  war  out  of 
which  she  comes  with  no  national  debt.  (Long  continued  ap- 
plause and  laughter.)  You  must  remember  how  dense  is  her 
population.  You  must  remember  how  difficult  it  is  to  intro- 
duce radical  changes  in  such  a  country  as  that.  The  intro- 
duction of  your  own  steamers  threw  out  of  employment  a 
hundred  thousand  junk-men.  The  introduction  of  several 
hundred  foreigners  into  the  civil  service  embittered,  of  course, 
the  ancient  native  employees.  The  establishment  of  a  school 
was  formidably  resisted  by  a  party  led  by  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  the  empire.  Yet,  in  defiance  of  all  these,  in  spite  of 
all  these,  the  present  enlightened  government  of  China  has 
advanced  steadily  along  the  path  of  progress — (cheers) — 
sustained,  it  is  true,  by  the  enlightened  representatives  of  the 
Western  Powers  now  at  Pekin,  guided  and  directed  largely 
by  a  modest  and  able  man,  Mr.  Hart,  the  Inspector-General  of 
Customs  at  the  head  of  the  foreign  employees  in  the  empire 
of  China.  (Cheers.)  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  things, 
notwithstanding  this  manifest  progress,  there  are  people  who 
will  tell  you  that  China  has  made  no  progress,  that  her  views 
are  retrograde ;  and  they  tell  you  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Western  Treaty  Powers  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  co- 
ercing China  into  reforms,  which  they  may  desire,  and  which 
she  may  not  desire — (cheers) — who  undertake  to  say  that' 
this  people  have  no  rights  which  you  are  bound  to  respect. 
In  their  coarse  language  they  say,  "  Take  her  by  the  throat." 
Using  the  tyrant's  plea,  they  say  they  know  better  what  China 
wants  than  China  herself  does.  Kot  only  do  they  desire  to 
introduce  now  the  reforms  born  of  their  own  interests  and 


14 

their  own  caprices,  but  they  tell  you  that  the  present  dynasty 
must  fall,  and  that  the  whole  structure  of  Chinese  civilization 
must  be  overthrown.  I  know  that  these  views  are  abhorred 
by  the  Governments  and  the  countries  from  which  these  people 
come ;  but  they  are  far  away  from  their  countries,  they  are 
active,  they  are  brave,  they  are  unscrupulous,  and  if  they  hap- 
pen to  be  officials,  it  is  in  their  power  to  complicate  affairs,  and 
to  involve,  ultimately,  their  distant  countries  in  war.  Now,  it 
is  against  the  malign  spirit  of  this  tyrannical  element  that  this 
mission  was  sent  forth  to  the  Christian  world.  (Cheers.)  It 
was  sent  forth  that  China  might  have  her  difficulties  stated. 
That  I  happened  to  be  at  the  head  of  it  was,  perhaps,  more 
an  accident  than  any  design.  It  was,  perhaps,  because 
I  had  been  longer  there  than  my  colleagues,  and  because  I 
was  about  to  leave;  and,  perhaps,  more  than  all,  because  I 
was  associated  with  the  establishment  of  the  co-operative 
policy  which,  by  the  aid  of  abler  men  than  myself,  was 
established  not  many  years  ago  (cheers) ;  and  it  is  to  sustain 
that  policy — which  has  received  the  warm  approval  of  all  the 
great  Treaty  Powers,  and  which  is  cherished  by  China — that 
we  are  sent  forth.  It  is  in  behalf  of  that  generous  policy, 
founded  on  principles  of  eternal  justice,  that  I  would  rally  the 
strongest  thing  on  this  earth,  the  enlightened  public  opinion 
of  the  world.  (Cheers.)  Missions  and  men  may  pass  away, 
but  the  principles  of  eternal  justice  will  stand.  (Cheei*s.)  I 
desire  that  the  autonomy  of  China  may  be  preserved.  I  desire 
that  her  independence  may  be  secured.  I  desire  that  she 
may  have  equality,  that  she  may  dispense  equal  privileges  to 
all  the  nations.  If  the  opposite  school  is  to  prevail,  if  you 
are  to  use  coercion  against  that  great  people,  then  who  are  to 
exercise  the  coercion,  whose  force  are  you  to  use,  wliose  views 
are  you  to  establish  ?  You  see  the  very  attempt  to  carry  out 
any  such  tyrannical  policy  would  involve  not  only  China,  but 


15 

would  involve  you  in  bloody  wars  with  each  other.  (Cheers.) 
There  are  men — men  of  that  tyrannical  school — who  say  that 
China  is  not  fit  to  sit  at  the  Council  Board  of  the  nations,  who 
call  her  people  barbarians,  and  attack  them  on  all  occasions 
with  a  bitter  and  unrelenting  spirit.  These  things  I  utterly 
deny.  I  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  that  is  a  great,  a  noble  people. 
(Cheers.)  It  has  all  the  elements  of  a  splendid  nationality. 
It  is  the  most  numerous  people  on  the  face"  of  the  globe ;  it  is 
the  most  homogeneous  people  in  the  world ;  it  has  a  language 
spoken  by  more  human  beings  than  any  other  in  the 
world,  and  it  is  written  in  the  rock.  It  is  a  country  where 
there  is  greater  unification  of  thought  than  any  other  country 
in  the  world.  It  is  a  country  where  the  maxims  of  great  sages, 
coming  down  memorized  for  centuries,  have  permeated  the 
whole  people,  until  their  knowledge  is  rather  an  instinct  than 
an  acquirement ;  a  people  loyal  while  living,  and  whose  last 
prayer,  when  dying,  is  to  sleep  in  the  sacred  soil  of  their  fathers. 
(Cheers.)  It  is  the  land  of  scholars,  it  is  the  land  of  schools,  it 
is  the  land  of  books,  from  the  simple  pamphlet  up  to  encyclo- 
pedias of  5,000  volumes.  (Applause  and  laughter.)  It  is  a 
land,  as  you,  Mr.  President,  have  said,  where  the  privileges 
are  equal;  it  is  a  land  without  caste.  For  they  destroyed 
their  feudal  system  twenty-one  hundred  years  ago  (cheers), — 
and  they  built  up  their  structure  of  civilization  on  the  great 
idea  that  the  people  are  the  source  of  power.  (Cheers.) 
That  idea  was  uttered  by  Mencius,  twenty-three  hundred 
years  ago,  and  it  was  old  when  he  uttered  it.  (Cheers.) 
The  power  goes  forth  fi'om  that  people  into  practical  govern- 
ment, through  the  competitive  system,  and  they  make  scholar- 
ship the  test  of  merit.  (Cheers.)  I  say  it  is  a  great  people  ; 
it  is  a  polite  people ;  it  is  a  patient  people ;  it  is  a  sober 
people ;  it  is  an  industrious  people,  and  it  is  such  a  people 
as  this  that  the  bitter  boor  would  exclude  from  the  council 


16 

halls  of  the  nations;  it  is  such  a  nation  as  this  that  the 
tyrannic  element  would  put  under  its  ban.  They  say  of 
this  people — nearly  half  of  the  human  race — that  they  must 
become  the  weak  wards  of  the  West — wards  of  nations  not  so 
populous  as  many  of  their  provinces — wards  of  people  who 
were  young  when  their  youngest  village  in  Manchuria  was 
founded.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  Chinese  are  perfect. 
Far  from  it.  They  have  their  faults,  like  other  people ;  they 
have  their  pride,  like  other  people ;  they  have  their  prejudices, 
like  other  people.  These  are  profound,  and  must  be  over- 
come. They  have  their  conceits,  like  other  people,  and  these 
must  be  done  away  with ;  but  they  are  not  to  be  done  away 
with  by  talking  to  them  with  cannon,  by  telling  them  that 
their  people  are  weak,  and  that  they  are  barbarians.  No, 
China  has  been  cut  off,  by  her  position,  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  She  has  been  separated  from  it  by  limitless  deserts, 
and  by  broad  oceans.  But  now,  when  the  views  of  men 
expand,  we  behold  the  very  globe  itself  diminished  in  size. 
Now,  when  science  has  taken  away,  or  dissipated  the  desert ; 
when  it  has  narrowed  the  ocean,  we  find  that  China,  seeing 
another  civilization  approaching  on  every  side,  has  her  eyes 
wide  open.  (Applause.)  She  sees  Russia  on  the  north, 
Europe  on  the  west,  America  on  the  east.  She  sees  a  cloud 
of  sail  on  her  coast,  she  sees  the  mighty  steamers  coming  from 
everywhere — "  bow  on."  She  feels  the  spark  from  the  electric 
telegraph  falling  hot  upon  her  everywhere ;  she  rouses  herself, 
not  in  anger,  but  for  argument.  She  finds  that  by  not  being 
in  a  position  to  compete  with  other  nations  for  so  long  a  time 
she  has  lost  ground.  She  finds  that  she  must  come  into  rela- 
tions with  this  civilization  that  is  pressing  up  around  her,  and 
feeling  that,  she  does  not  wait  but  comes  out  to  you  and 
extends  to  you  her  hand,  (x^pplause.)  She  tells  you  she  is 
ready  to  take  upon  her  ancient  civilization  the  graft  of  your 


n 

civilization.  She  tells  jou  she  is  ready  to  take  back  her  own 
inventions,  with  all  their  developments.  She  tells  you  that 
she  is  willing  to  trade  with  you,  to  buy  of  you,  to  sell  to  you, 
to  help  you  strike  off  the  shackles  from  trade.  (Applause.) 
She  invites  your  merchants,  she  invites  your  missionaries. 
She  tells  the  latter  to  plant  the  shining  cross  on  every  hill  and 
in  every  valley.  (Applause.)  For  she  is  hospitable  to  fair  ar- 
gument. I  say  she  tells  you  she  is  willing  to  strike  off  the 
shackles  of  trade.  She  offers  you  almost  free  trade  to-day. 
(Cheers.)  Holding  the  great  staples  of  the  earth — tea  and 
silk — she  charges  you  scarcely  any  tariff  on  the  exports  you 
send  out  in  exchange  for  them.  (Applause.)  She  is  willing 
to  meet  the  inferior  questions  which  are  now  arising  as  to 
transit-dues,  and  if  you  only  have  patience  with  her,  and 
right  reason  on  your  side,  she  will  settle  these  to  your  satisfac- 
tion. But  the  country  is  open ;  you  may  travel  and  trade 
where  you  like.  What  complaint,  then,  have  you  to  make  of 
her?  Show  her  fair  play.  Give  her  that,  and  you  will 
bless  the  toiling  millions  of  the  world.  (Applause.)  Their 
trade,  carried  on  in  foreign  vessels,  which  has  in  my  own  day 
in  China,  risen  from  $82,000,000  to  $300,000,000,  is  but  a 
tithe  of  the  enormous  trade  that  will  take  place  with  China 
when  she  gets  into  full  fellowship  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 
(Applause.)  Let  her  alone  ;  let  her  have  her  independence ; 
let  her  develop  herself  in  her  own  time,  and  in  her  own  way. 
She  has  no  hostility  to  you.  Let  her  do  this,  and  she  will 
initiate  a  movement  which  will  be  felt  in  every  workshop  of 
the  civilized  world.  She  says  now :  "  Send  us  your  wheat, 
your  lumber,  your  coal,  your  silver,  your  goods  from  every- 
where— we  will  take  as  many  of  them  as  we  can.  We  will 
give  you  back  our  tea,  our  silk,  free  labor,  which  we  have 
sent  so  largely  out  into  the  world."      (Applause.)      It  has 

overflowed    upon    Siam,   upon   the  British  Provinces,  upon 

.   2 


18 

Singapore,  upon  Manilla,  upon  Peru,  Cuba,  Australia,  and 
California.  All  she  asks  is,  that  you  will  be  as  kind  to 
her  Nationals  as  she  is  to  your  Nationals.  (Applause.) 
She  wishes  simply  that  you  will  do  justice.  She  is  willing 
not  only  to  exchange  goods  with  you,  but  she  is  willing  to 
exchange  thoughts.  She  is  willing  to  give  you  what  she 
thinks  is  her  intellectual  civilization  in  exchange  for  your 
material  civilization.  Let  her  alone,  and  the  caravans  on  the 
roads  of  the  North,  toward  Russia,  will  swarm  in  larger  num- 
bers than  ever  before.  Let  her  alone,  and  that  silver  which 
has  been  flowing  for  hundreds  of  years  into  China,  losing 
itself  like  the  lost  rivers  of  the  West,  but  which  yet  exists, 
will  come  out  into  the  affairs  of  men.  (Applause.)  Let  her 
alone,  and  those  great  lines  of  steamers,  the  "  P.  and  O." 
and  Messagerie  Imperiale,  may  multiply  their  tonnage. 
Let  her  alone,  and  your  own  great  line,  the  pride  of  New 
York,  the  Pacific  Mail — and  as  many  other  lines  as  you  may 
choose  to  establish — may  increase  their  tonnage  tenfold  ;  and 
they  will  still,  as  at  present,  have  to  leave'their  freight  upon 
the  wharves  of  Hong-Kong  and  Yokahama.  (Cheers.)  The 
imagination  kindles  at  the  future  which  may  be,  and  which 
will  be,  if  you  will  be  fair  and  just  to  China.  But,  citizens 
of  New  York,  I  must  close.  (Voices — "  Go  on  ! ")  I  have 
spoken  at  considerable  length  already.  I  must  thank  you 
once  again  for  this  kind,  this  generous,  this  unanimous  recep- 
tion. So  intertwined  are  the  affairs  of  men,  that  whatever 
New  York  thinks  and  feels  unanimously,  will  be  felt  and 
thought  in  all  the  commercial  capitals  of  the  Christian  world. 
(Prolonged  applause.) 


19 

4th  Toast ■^"  Our  Continental  Republic  and  its  Asiatic  Relations."  Response 
by  the  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Evarts. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.   EVARTS. 

Mr.  President — It  gives  me  great  pleasure,  as  a  citizen  of 
Kew  York,  to  join  in  this  festivity,  and  great  pleasure,  Sir, 
to  welcome  you,  the  Governor  of  this  State  of  Xew  York, 
coming  from  the  cares  and  duties  of  your  great  office  to  share 
in  this  tribute  of  respect  to  the  distinguished  Ambassador  and 
his  associates  from  the  Chinese  Empire  (applause),  and  to 
notice  also  the  Mayor  of  our  City,  who,  though  occupied  with 
the  constant  care  of  1,000,000  of  turbulent  subjects  (laughter), 
is  yet  able,  in  the  interest  of  universal  brotherhood,  to  share 
the  cares  of  the  Chinese  Emperor,  over  400,000,000  of  peaceful 
subjects.  (Laughter.)  I  am  glad,  too,  to  notice  the  contribu- 
tion which  the  wealth  and  the  commerce,  and  the  education, 
and  the  intelligence  of  Xew  York,  groups  about  these  tables 
to  take  part  in  this  celebration.  That  the  Chinese  Empire  is 
a  great  nation  we  have  always  known  since  we  learned  geo- 
graphy at  school.  Xow,  many  of  us,  for  the  first  time,  have 
the  pleasure  of  looking  upon  the  faces  of  the  eminent  public 
men  of  that  great  Empire,  who  do  us  the  honor — a  young 
Republic — to  grace  with  their  presence  this  occasion.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  remember,  Mr.  President,  that  the  last  time  that  I 
met  upon  an  occasion  of  ceremony,  the  distinguished  Envoy  of 
the  Chinese  Empire,  was  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
a  monument  at  Plymouth  Rock,  in  honor  of  the  Pilgrim 
emigrants  of  250  years  ago.  (Applause.)  Now,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  that  being  the  easternmost  point  of  our  continent, 
and  the  oldest  place  of  civilization  on  its  surface,  he  has 
been  traveling  to  the  eastward  ever  since,  and  he  is  still  west 
of  Plymouth  Rock.  (Laughter.)  What  a  great  nation  we 
are !  "We  must  change  all  our  figures  of  speech.  We  used  to 
be  justified  in  saying  for  any  extravagance  that  "  it  is  as  far 


20 

as  the  East  is  from  the  West,"  but  now  nothing  •  is  nearer 
than  the  East  is  to  the  West.  (Laughter.)  Undoubtedly  we 
may  recur  here  to  that  occasion,  in  its  celebration  of  the  iirst 
footstep,  resting  upon  American  soil  upon  the  Rock  of  Ply- 
mouth, of  that  energetic  and  creative  powder  in  the  aiFairs  of 
men  that  has  over-run  this  continent,  and  enabled  the  descend- 
ants to  look  out,  also,  upon  the  setting  sun  across  the  ocean,  as 
their  ancestors  did  upon  the  rising  sun  across  the  sea.  (Ap- 
plause.) Nor  have  we  stopped  there,  but  pushing  further  our 
enterprise,  oyr  courage  and  energy,  we  have  brought  Chii'ia  face 
t )  fac3  with  us,  enabling  us,  as  it  W3re,  to  breakfast,  as  well  as 
take  tea,  with  her  all  the  year  round.  (Laughter.)  What  we 
now  are,  and  pride  ourselves  in  being,  China,  at  least,  may 
say  in  the  plenitude  of  her  population,  and  the  serenity  of  her 
wisdom,  "  Such  was  I  before  I  had  sowed  my  wild  oats." 
(Grreat  laughter.)  She  may  say  to  us,  "  As  you  see  me  now 
you  may  hope  to  be  when  you  get  to  be  as  old."  (Laughter.) 
There  are  very  few  things,  Mr.  President,  in  our  civilization 
that  they  have  not  thought  through  and  lived  through  in 
China.  Take  one  of  our  newest  novelties — woman's  rights 
and  female  suifrage.  (Laughter.)  They  got  through  that 
long  ago  in  China  (laughter),  and  they  have  put  the  matter 
upon  a  broad,  logical,  incontestable  basis  of  discrimination — 
that  women  have  no  souls,  and  men  have.  (Great  laughter.) 
Why,  sir,  we  find,  as  an  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  this 
people,  noted  among  the  causes  of  divorce  in  China,  loquacity 
on  the  part  of  the  wife.  (Great  merriment.)  Now,  that 
would  strike  us  as  a  harsh  rule,  did  we  not  know  that  they 
had  another  custom  of  contracting  the  feet  of  the  wifp,  which 
compels  her  to  stay  at  home,  and,  thus,  expend  in  the 
household  those  torrents  of  speech,  which,  with  us,  would 
be  distributed  through  a  whole  neighborhood.  (Renewed 
laughter.)     So,  too,  w4th  politics.     Only  think  of  a  Presiden- 


21 

tial  election  in  a  nation  of  four  hundred  millions  of  men ! 
(Laughter.)  Why,  sir,  with  a  quadrennial  tei*m,  and  allowing 
a  hundred  million  of  men  to  vote  in  a  year,  it  would  take  the 
whole  four  years  to  complete  the  election  (laughter) ;  but  that 
they  have  got  through  with.  (Laughter.)  The  Abbe  Hue, 
who,  I  have  no  doubt,  told  as  much  truth  as  any  traveler  from 
China  can  tell — for  the  temptation  is  very  great,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, to  exaggerate,  when  you  come  so  great  a  distance  for 
the  purpose  of  telling  a  story  (laughter) — Abbe  Hue  says  that 
feeling  a  great  interest  in  knowing  something  of  the  politics  of 
the  Empire,  in  every  refined  and  educated  circle  in  which  he 
was  admitted,  he  would  constantly  call  attention  to  public 
affairs.  But  beyond  the  mere  courtesy  of  "yes,"  or  "no," 
he  never  could  get  any  answer  on  politics.  (Laughter.) 
When  he  had  repeatedly  attempted  it,  and  had  failed,  an 
intelligent,  educated,  and  polite  Chinese  gentleman  came 
behind  him,  and,  putting  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  in- 
structively said  to  him :  "  Sir,  you  seem  to  wish  to  talk 
politics.  Don't  you  understand  that  in  this  Empire  we  have 
Mandarins  who  are  paid  to  take  care  of  the  politics  of  the 
country  (laughter),  and  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  them  ? " 
(Renewed  laughter.)  Xow,  Mr.  President,  I  think  it  for- 
tunate that  our  distingiiished  Envoy,  Mr.  Burlingame,  who 
has  taken  part  in  more  than  one  Presidential  election 
(applause),  has  timed  his  visit  so  that  he  has  brought  these 
eminent  Chinese  statesmen  here  to  see  first  the  nomination  to 
take  place  on  the  4th  of  July,  of  nobody  knows  who,  (laughter) 
in  the  City  of  Xew  York;  and  secondly,  the  election  in 
N^ovember  of  the  Emperor  for  four  years,  barring  accidents 
(a  laugh),  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  (Applause.) 
It  would  seem,  too,  Mr.  President,  as  if  some  of  the  aggrava- 
tions of  our  recent  politics  of  the  last  eight  years  had  not  been 
in  early   times   entirely  unknown    in   China.     They  have   a 


22 

fashion  there  of  worshipping  the  "  Measure,"  as  they  call  it, 
which  is,  I  take  it,  equivalent  to  being  "  sound  on  the  goose." 
(Laughter.)  The  "  Measure  "  is  the  divinity  that  has  charge 
of  the  prosperity  of  men.  their  longevity,  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth,  and  success  in  the  acquisition  of  office,  and 
they  had  the  same  division  in  that  respect  that  we  had,  for 
they  had  two  divinities.  The  l^orthem  Divinity  had  every- 
thing to  do  with  thrift  and  length  of  years,  but  the  Southern 
"  Measure  "  presided  over  the  emoluments  of  office.  (Laugh- 
ter.) So  you  see  that  what  is  new  and  important  with  us  is 
old  and  trivial  with  the  Chinese.  (Applause  and  laughter.) 
But  one  happy  thought  has  been  suggested  by  your  speech, 
sir,  so  eloquent  and  so  able,  that  there  is  one  thing  that  we 
have  that  the  Chinese  lack — a  national  debt.  (Laughter.) 
Take  it,  sir,  with  you,  take  all  of  it,  and  bestow  it  upon 
them.  (Renewed  laughter.)  All  our  political  theorists  hold 
that  there  is  nothing  that  binds  a  people  together  to  ensure 
peace  and  prosperity,  like  a  national  debt.  Take  it  all  and 
give  peace  to  China.  (Roars  of  laughter.)  Let  them  not 
fear  that  they  rob  us,  for  we  can  soon  get  up  another. 
(Laughter.)  Or,  if  you  will  make  it,  as  one  measure,  a  bond 
of  eternal  amity  and  fellowship,  by  an  equal  partition,  we  will 
pay  it  in  paper,  and  they  may  pay  it  in  gold.  This  will 
settle  all  the  complications  among  the  different  politicians  in 
this  country.  This  will  give  them  something  to  fight  for  in 
China  instead  of  fighting  for  nothing.  I  believe  the  political 
institutions  of  China,  concerning  which,  we  have  only  the 
reports  of  the  telegraph,  are  very  simple.  They  seem  to  be  of 
an  Emperor,  serene,  dignified,  and  omnipotent ;  and  of  a  re- 
bellion in  perpetual  session,  (laughter,)  of  which  there  are 
daily  and  orderly  reports,  as  there  are  of  the  proceedings  of 
Congress  with  us.  (Laughter.)  A  nation  thus  reposing,  thus 
established,  thus  educated,  is  superior  to  the  chances  of  fate. 


23 

It  has  forgotten  more  than  we  ever  knew.  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  And  after  all  it  is  astonishing  how  much  human 
nature  there  is  in  China  as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 
(Laughter.)  I  believe,  upon  my  soul,  that  the  same  general 
maxims  prevail  there  as  here.  I  find  they  have  a  custom 
there,  in  the  administration  of  justice,  whereby,  for  instance, 
when  the  bamboo  is  to  be  applied,  the  culprit  may  substitute 
somebody  else  to  take  it  for  him ;  and  that  is  the  course  pur- 
sued in  this  country,  in  the  castigations  of  the  public  press. 
(Laughter.)  So  you'will  perceive,  sir,  that  if  we  look  back 
to  the  maxims  of  Confucius  and  Mencius,  from  whom  I  shall 
not  quote  at  length  to-night  (a  laugh),  that  they  diftered 
somewhat  on  the  nicer  points  of  morals  and  politics — as  you 
are  very  well  aware,  and  your  distinguished  associates,  and 
few  of  the  gentlemen  at  this  table  are  wholly  ignorant  of  the 
points  in  discussion  between  them — they  came  down  to  these 
five  great  principles  that  benevolence,  justice,  politeness, 
wisdom,  and  fidelity  make  up  the  sum  of  the  virtues  for 
society.  And  have  we  not  practiced  upon  them  in  our  social, 
political,  and  civic,  State,  and  Federal  Governments  ever 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Republic  ?  (Great  laughter.)  It 
is  true,  that  what  with  us  is  but  the  gristle,  in  this  brief  period 
of  our  life,  has  become  indm'ated  into  the  bone  and  substance 
of  Chinese  polity.  I  confess,  sir,  that  I  am  lost  in  admiration 
when  I  look  at  the  few  distinguished  statesmen  and  scholars 
of  the  Chinese  Empire  who  have  honored  us  with  their 
presence,  and  upon  the  multitude  of  eminent  men  of  our 
civilization  about  these  tables.  Fully,  fairly,  and  honestly,  I 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  if  they  are  weighed,  and  not 
counted,  these  four  Chinese  are  equal  to  the  whole  of  us. 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 


5tli  Toast. — "The  Commercial  Cities  of  the  Old  World  and  the  New." 
The  President  called  His  Honor,  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York,  to 
respond. 

SPEECH   OF  MAYOR  HOFFMAN. 

Mr.  Hoffman  said : — Your  Excellency  and  Gentlemen  :  I 
have  listened  with  great  pleasure  to  the  speech  of  the  Gover- 
nor of  the  State,  and  of  the  Embassador  from  China,  and 
have  also  heard  with  great  pleasure  the  speech  of  the  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  who  has  just  taken  his  seat.  It  seems 
to  be  a  part  of  every  official  programme,  that  he  is  to  speak 
just  before  I  do,  so  that  he  may  have  an  opportunity  of  giving 
a  hit  at  the  chief  Magistrate  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
(Laughter.)  I  regret,  in  view  of  the  fact,  that  I  am  the  pre- 
siding officer  over  a  million  of  turbulent  subjects,  as  he  says, 
that  one  like  him  who  could  exercise  so  conservative  an  in- 
fluence among  them  seems  willing  to  exchange  his  residence 
to  another  city — (laughter) — where  the  citizens  are  not  as  tur- 
bulent as  those  who  assume  to  be  their  representatives. 
(Laughter.)  Much  as  I  love  him,  however,  I  am  willing  to 
let  him  go  for  the  good  of  the  country,  and  we  will  try  and 
take  care  of  New  York  without  him.  (Laughter.)  Mr. 
President,  and  gentlemen,  at  this  late  hour  in  the  evening, 
in  view  of  the  toasts  which  are  to  follow  this,  and  the  names 
of  distinguished  men  who  are  to  respond  to  them,  if  I  should 
attempt  to  speak  of  all  the  great  commercial  cities  of  the 
world,  your  unanimous  verdict  would  be  that  I  was  unfit  to 
be  presiding  officer  of  any  of  them.  I  shall  not,  therefore, 
attempt  it.  Of  the  cities  of  the  old  world  I  have  only  to  say 
that  they  are  old,  and  they  are  gray,  and  I  give  them  that 
respect  which  Young  America  gives  to  age  everywhere.  In 
regard  to  our  own,  I  have  only  to  say,  that  as  a  young  man, 
as  a  young  Mayor  of  a  young  city,  in  a  young  country,  I  wel- 
come here  a  young  American  who  comes  as  the  Embassador 


25 

from  the  oldest  country  in  the  world.  (Applause.)  I  welcome 
him,  and  his  associates  born  upon  the  soil  of  that  ancient 
empire,  whose  population  is  at  least  twelve  times  greater  than 
tliat  of  our  own.  (Applause.)  And  I  look  and  hope  for 
great  things  to  come  from  this  Embassy,  headed,  as  it  is,  by 
an  American  citizen,  who  pays  his  first  visit,  in  that  capacity, 
to  the  land  of  his  birth,  to  be  followed  by  visits  to  the  other 
Christian  nations  of  the  world.  (Applause.)  Xo  man  can 
tell  what  may  grow  Irom  it.  We  only  know  this,  that  even 
to-day,  while  the  energy,  the  capital,  and  the  enterprise  of 
this  new  world  are  pushing  the  railroad  far  across  tlie  western 
plains,  up  the  slopes  and  over  the  summits  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  away  over  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  to  connect  the 
Pacific  with  the  Atlantic,  the  old  partition  walls  which  have 
separated  China  from  the  civilized  world,  are  being  broken 
down ;  and  an  Embassy  comes  to  us,  headed  by  an  American 
citizen,  attended  by  those  who  were  bom  upon  the  soil  of  that 
great  empire.  (Applause.)  And  in  view  of  these  facts,  when 
this  great  commercial  city  of  the  Union  sl^U  be  linked  with 
the  great  commercial  city  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  by  links  of 
iron,  when  transit  and  communication  shall  be  rapid  by  rail 
and  telegraph,  when  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  shall  be 
joined  together,  and  when  the  vast  trade  of  China  shall  be 
brought  to  our  very  gates,  who  shall  tell  what  may  be  the 
greatness,  what  may  be  the  glory  of  this  young  commercial 
city  of  this  new  world  of  ours.  (Applause.)  I  would  in- 
dulge in  no  empty  boasting.  In  the  presence  of  these  men  of 
sense,  these  men  of  brains,  these  men  of  energy  about  me,  I 
shall  not  do  that.  But  I  have  to  say  to  you,  men  of  Xew 
York,  accustomed  as  you  are,  accustomed  as  your  press  is,  to 
speak  disrespectfully  of  the  city  which  is  your  home,  that,  con- 
sidering its  youth,  considering  the  brief  time  it  has  had  to 
work  out  its  destiny,  it  stands  'to-day  far  ahead  of  the  other 


26 

cities  of  the  world.  (Applause.)  And  if  you  will  spend  less 
time  in  abusing  it,  and  more  time  in  taking  care  of  it,  you  will 
see  what  great  things  will  come  to  pass.  (Loud  applause.) 
We  have  an  ample  harbor,  we  have  a  great  country,  we  have 
the  trade  of  the  world  offering  itself  to  us,  and  now  the  trade 
of  China  more  largely  than  ever ;  and  yet,  what  do  we  see  ? 
I  speak  of  it  with  shame,  that  in  and  out  of  our  port  there 
hardly  sails  one  commercial  ship  which  bears  upon  its  mast- 
head the  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America.  (Applause.) 
What  have  you  to  say,  merchants  of  ISTew  York — you  men  of 
a  country  which  gave  a  million  of  lives,  and  thousands  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  to  defend  your  flag,  and  to  secure  its  perpetuity 
over  every  foot  of  land  in  every  State  of  your  Union  ?  What 
have  you  to  say  of  a  national  policy  which,  in  effect,  strikes 
down  that  flag  from  the  mast-head  of  nearly  every  merchant 
ship  that  comes  to  or  sails  from  your  ports  ?  (Applause.) 
As  you  have  gathered  here,  men  of  commercial  prosperity,  in 
honor  of  this  distinguished  Embassy,  you  offer  to  me  the 
toast — "  The  Commercial  Cities  of  the  Old  World  and  the 
New,"  I  close  my  reply  with  telling  you,  men  of  New  York, 
to  see  to  it,  as  wise  men,  that  some  policy  shall  be  inaugurated 
and  consummated  which  will  secure  what  you  all  desire,  what 
you  must  have  if  you  will  make  your  city  what  it  should  be — 
a  policy  which  will  place  the  American  flag  at  the  mast-head 
of  a  fair  proportion  of  the  merchant  ships  which  go  out  of  and 
come  into  the  beautiful  harbor  of  this  great  metropolis.  (Loud 
applause.) 


27 

6tli  Toa43t. — "  An  Intelligent  Diplomacy,  recognizincr  the  universal  broth- 
erhood of  men,  and  equal  justice  to  all  nations."  Hon,  James  O.  Putnam,  of 
Buffalo,  resi)onded. 

SPEECH   OF  MR.   PUTNAM. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  :  I  thank  you  for  the  honor 
of  a  call  to  respond  to  a  sentiment  which  this  occasion  so 
naturally  suggests. 

An  age  of  progress  is  always  transitional.  The  present  age 
is  pre-eminently  so.  And,  of  all  the  progress  which  modern 
time  records,  invoFving  the  advancement  of  liberal  ideas,  and 
more  just  international  relations,  I  recognize  nothing  so  poten- 
tial, so  full  of  hope  and  cheer,  as  that  diplomacy  which,  if  our 
government  did  not  originate,  it  certainly  has  commended  to 
the  world  by  the  most  illustrious  examples,  and  the  most  bril- 
liant success.  I  trust  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  the 
whole  Machiavellian  school  of  maxims  relating  to  interna- 
tional intercourse  will  be  superseded  by  the  principles  of  equal 
justice  to  all  men  and  to  all  States.  For  centuries  the  diplo- 
macy of  Europe  was  a  system  of  strategy  and  violence ;  and 
International  Law  was  practically  the  will  of  the  strongest — 
that  will  the  inspiration  of  commercial  cupidity  and  the  lust 
of  territorial  aggrandisement. 

During  the  progress  of  our  civil  war,  I  read  in  a  foreign 
journal,  which  is  recognized  as  the  foremost  representative  of 
the  press  of  Europe,  in  an  article  discussing  the  questions  that 
grew  out  of  the  "  Trent  Affair,"  these  significant  words  :  "  It 
is  true  we  have,  in  past  times,  as  a  nation,  done  many  wrong 
things,  but  we  were  always  able  to  fight  them  through." 

The  policy  thus  shadowed  forth  has  been  the  world's  direst 
curse.  It  has  deluged  Europe  and  Asia  with  blood ;  it  has 
again  and  again  annihilated  weak  but  independent  States,  and 
erected  in  the  centre  of  more  than  one  colossal  Empire,  a  gov- 
ernment of  force,  regardless  of  every  sentiment,  regardless  of 


28 

every  principle,  except  its  own  absorbing,  crushing,  devilish 
ambition.  Thanks  be  to  G-od,  there  is  another  school  of  in- 
ternational Ethics  !  And  I  think  it  a  just  matter  of  congratu- 
lation that  our  government  has  given  to  the  world  some  of 
the  best  practical  expositions  of  that  better  doctrine. 

The  stream  will  rise  no  higher  than  the  fountain.  If  it 
takes  its  rise  from  the  low  level  of  human  passions,  we  may 
expect  wrong  and  violence.  If  it  takes  its  rise  from  the 
fountain  of  Eternal  Justice,  we  know  that  it  will  bear  on  its 
bosom  that  central  truth  of  religion,  the  universal  Father- 
hood of  God,  and  that  vivifying  principle  of  all  just  politics, 
the  universal  brotherhood  of  men.  It  will  lead  to  that  law  to 
which  Cicero  paid  homage,  which  is  not  one  thing  at  Rome, 
another  at  Athens,  one  thing  at  New  York,  another  at  Pekin, 
but  at  all  times,  and  among  all  nations,  is  the  same,  immuta- 
ble and  eternal. 

When  I  consider  the  more  recent  diplomatic  action  of  our 
own  government  upon  matters  involving  the  internal  security 
of  a  power  with  which  we  are  now,  happily,  at  peace,  and 
with  which  I  devoutly  hope  and  pray,  we  may  never  have 
occasion  to  war — a  power  which  we  believe  has  given  us 
grevious  cause  of  just  complaint — when  I  see  that  our  govern- 
ment has  covered  the  head  and  whole  body  of  that  power  with 
coals  of  fire  from  the  furnace  of  charity  and  good  will,  I 
recoornize  the  dawnino;  of  the  Millenium  of  States. 

And  when  I  see  our  Representative  to  a  people  that  con- 
stitutes a  third  of  our  race, — a  nation  that  dates  its  history 
back  to  a  period  coeval  with  the  earliest  nations — a  nation 
distinguished  for  a  civilization  that  has  flowered  into  great 
domestic  and  public  virtues,  and  whose  Ethics,  associated  with 
names  that  rank  amon«:  the  greatest  and  noblest  of  all  ao-es, 
command  the  respect  of  mankind,  yet  a  civilization  that  has 
preserved  for  centuries  an  isolation  as  absolute  as  it  is  anoma- 


29 

loiis;  when  I  see  that  Representative,  not  at  the  head  of 
armies  or  of  navies,  not  with  strategy  or  menace,  but  by  the 
power  of  intelligent  persuasion,  by  the  presentation  of  those 
principles  of  International  Comity  and  Justice,  which  reason 
approves  and  religion  enforces,  accomplishing  incalculable 
practical  results  for  their  good  and  the  good  of  the  Western 
Nations, — I  see  beyond  the  dawn,  I  recognize,  high  advanced, 
the  blazing  day  of  the  International  Millenium. 

And,  my  friend — your  distinguished  guest,  will  allow  me 
to  hail  him  as  the  Priest  of  the  New  Era,  who,  with  the 
golden  ring  of  Peace,  has  wedded  the  time  hallowed  civiliza- 
tion of  the  East  to  the  fresher  and  more  elastic  civilization  of 
the  West.  He  has  leveled  tlie  walls  of  China  by  one  touch  of 
the  wand  of  National  Fraternity  ;  and  China  is  here,  conquer- 
ing us  by  conquering  our  prejudices,  enlarging  the  boundary  of 
our  sympathies,  and  by  realizing  to  us  anew  that  God  has  made 
all  nations  of  one  blood,  and  that  of  them  all.  He  is  the  bene- 
ficent Father. 

Mr.  President :  I  honor  my  country  for  a  thousand  con- 
siderations which  inspire  us  all  with  a  never-waning  love. 
But  I  am  never  so  impressed  by  her  moral  grandeur  as  when, 
in  negotiating  with  other  States  on  questions  that  naturally 
excite  popular  passion,  she  refuses  to  plant  herself  upon  a 
policy  of  lust  or  revenge :  I  honor  her  most,  when,  firmly 
demanding  justice,  I  see  her  bearing  offerings  of  Peace  in  her 
hand,  while  in  her  heart  she  cherishes  and  obeys  that  precept 
of  the  skies,  "  Do  unto  others,  as  you  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  you.''  There  is  contagion  in  the  example  of  justice. 
My  thought  is  suggestive  of  the  true  mission  of  American 
Democracy.     (Applause.) 


30 

Seventh  Toast.— "The  Industries  of  China,  and  the  obligations  of  the 
world  to  these  industries." — Responded  to  by  the  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  DODGE. 

Mr.  Chairman :  If  I  had  my  written  speech  here  I  woukl 
claim  the  privilege  accorded  in  Congress,  and  relieve  my 
friends  at  this  late  hour  by  sending  it  to  the  printer ;  but  as  I 
have  not,  I  will  promise  not  to  detain  you  over  three  or  four 
minutes  in  speaking  upon  a  subject,  the  magnitude  of  which 
entitles  it  to  hours, — "  The  industries  of  China,  and  the  obli- 
gations of  the  world  to  these  industries."  Look  at  the  history 
of  China  as  connected  with  the  silk  culture.  The  Chinese 
claim,  and  justly  claim,  the  honor  of  having  first  utilized  the 
product  of  the  silk  worm ;  of  having  spun  the  delicate  thread 
from  the  cocoon,  and  in  after  years  manufactured  with  it  that 
beautiful  tissue  which,  as  far  back  as  the  days  of  Solomon's 
glory,  clothed  the  Eastern  Courts  in  beauty  and  lustre  It  is 
said,  sir,  and  no  doubt  with  truth,  that  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  China  held  commerce  with  Persia,  Greece,  and 
Rome ;  carrying  to  them  the  beautiful,  lustrous  silks  in 
exchange  for  their  commodities.  And  that  when  our  Saxon 
ancestors  were  half-naked  savages,  the  very  plebians  of 
China  were  dressed  in  silks.  I  will  simply  say  in  regard 
to  silk,  that  the  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  indus- 
try of  China.  They  held  a  monopoly  of  that  trade  for  years, 
and  though  they  are  now  dividing  it  with  England,  France, 
and  Italy,  they  are  entitled,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  to  the 
honor  of  discovering  and  utilizing  the  product  of  the  silk- 
worm. In  our  own  country,  it  is  but  40  or  50  years  since  the 
silks,  that  were  to  be  found  in  our  jobbing  stores,  were  from 
China.  I  see  around  me  dry-goods  merchants,  who  remember 
very  well  how  necessary  it  was  to  have  a  supply  on  hand  of 
the  beautiful  satins,  with  their  varied  colors,  and  sarsinets. 


31 

and  Barcelona  handkerchiefs,  all  from  China.  Why,  in  those 
days,  when  our  country  merchants  came  to  the  city,  those 
articles  were  the  first  on  the  memorandum.  For  every  lady, 
not  only  in  the  city,  but  in  the  country,  had  a  beautiful  black 
gown,  of  Sinchew.  The  cost  then  was  about  75  cents  a  yard  ; 
now  our  friends  go  to  Stewart's  and  pay  $6  and  $10  a 
yard.  Of  late  years,  these  silks  have  been  exported,  princi- 
pally in  the  raw  state,  to  an  extent  of  about  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars^  annually,  of  which  England  and  France 
have  taken  about  one-half.  The  large  increase  of  silk  manu- 
facturers in  our  country  are  mainly  dependent  on  the  industry 
of  China  for  the  raw  material.  But  I  must  leave  silk  and  go 
to  tea,  (Laughter.)  What  do  the  nations  of  the  earth  owe 
China  for  its  tea  \ — that  social  beverage,  equal  in  all  respects 
to  any  other,  and  far  superior,  in  my  estimation.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  Two  hundred  years  ago,  it  was  said  that 
100  pounds  of  tea  were  imported  into  England  and  sold  to 
the  gentry  at  from  eight  to  ten  pounds,  sterling — avordu- 
pois  pound.  One  hundred  years  after,  the  trade  had 
amounted  to  1,000,000  pounds,  sterling,  and  now  to 
15,000,000  or  20,000,000;  and  our  own  country  has  been 
increasing  in  the  same  ratio.  Until  within  the  last  ten  years 
China  has  had  a  monopoly  of  the  world  in  this  article  of  lea ; 
it  having  become  a  very  necessity  of  life,  both  to  the  rich  and 
the  poor.  But  I  must  pass  from  tea,  for  I  promised  not  to 
occupy  your  attention  over  three  minutes,  and  speak  of  the 
artisans  of  China — those  who  have  given  lustre  to  the  dyes  of 
the  world — ^for  I  understand  there  are  no  artisans  who  have 
equalled  those  of  China  in  producing  so  great  a  number  of 
permanent  and  beautiful  colors  which  they  give  to  their 
various  products.  I  would  like  to  refer  to  the  great  perfec- 
tion of  their  China  and  Porcelain  which,  for  so  many  centuries, 
they  have  been  famous.     Then  their  beautiful  carved  work  in 


32 

shell,  ivory,  and  pearl ;  their  beautiful  fans,  which  our  ladies 
prize  so  highly  ;  and  let  us  not  forget  their  fire-works.  What 
could  we  do  without  them  ?  The  boys  would  as  soon  have  no 
4th  of  July  as  to  be  deprived  of  the  Chinese  fire-crackers.  We 
are  assembled  here  to-night  to  do  honor  to  the  Chinese  embas- 
sy, and  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  may  be  the  influence  of 
that  embassy,  not  only  on  our  own  nation,  but  the  nations  of 
the  world.  Who  shall  attempt  to  predict  the  future  of  China 
when  she  shall  have  adopted  the  modern  improvements  of  the 
age ;  when  the  railroad  shall  pass  through  that  country  with 
its  millions  ?  Why,  we  railroad  men  love  to  build  railroads 
where  there  are  passengers,  and  what  a  place  China  must  be 
for  such  enterprises.  (Cheers.)  And  railroads  that  bring  to 
the  coast  the  industries  of  China,  will  carry  into  the  interior 
of  that  empire  the  industries  of  America.     (Applause.) 


8th  Toast. — "Ancient  and  Modern  Civilization  commingling  on  the 
Pacific."     Responded  to  by  Prof.  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D. 

SPEECH  OF  PROF.  HITCHCOCK. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen :  Extremes  meet  here  to- 
night; as,  sooner  or  later,  they  always  do  and  must.  Not 
Asia  and  Europe,  which  are  really  only  one  vast  continent, 
but  Asia  and  America — the  true  Antipodes.  Our  guests 
represent  four  hundred  millions  of  human  beings,  who  look 
up  one  way  into  the  blue  sky,  while  we  look  up  just  the  other 
way ;  who  are  saying  "  good  night "  to  one  another,  while  we 
are  saying  "  good  morning."     They  represent  the  great  Mon- 


goliaii  branch  of  the  human  family,  which  has  made  itself 
felt  more  than  once  in  the  persons  of  such  conquerors  as  Geng- 
his-Khan and  Tamerlane ;  while  we  represent  the  Caucasian 
branch,  whose  latest  heroes  are  Arkwright,  and  Fulton,  and 
Morse,  and  Field.  They  represent  a  people  whose  annals  run 
back  almost  to  the  deluge,  whose  iirst  king,  Fuhhi^  is  farther 
back  in  the  depths  of  antiquity  than  Abraham ;  farther  back 
than  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  farther  back  even  than  Menes, 
the  Thinite  ;  while  the  hands  of  our  fathers  and  founders  have 
hardly  yet  turned  to  ashes  in  the  ground.  They  represent  an 
empire  whose  first  and  last  word  is  obedience^  even  to  the 
endangering  of  liberty  ;  while  we  represent  a  republic  whose 
first  and  last  word  is  liherty^  even  to  tlie  endangering  of 
obedience.  These  are  some  of  the  contrasts.  But  there  is  no 
contrast  of  civilization  and  barbarism,  oi  semi-barbarism.  It 
is  no  mere  instinct  of  courtesy  on  our  part,  to  speak  of  the 
Chinese  Cimlizatimi,  Though  inferior  to  our  own  occidental, 
Caucasian  civilization  in  that  ours  has  dropped  all  national 
titles,  and  is  sinq3ly  Christian ;  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  civiliza- 
tion, and  a  civilization  of  no  mean  rank.  While  religious 
ideas,  which  vitalize  our  institutions,  are  avowedly  beyond 
its  range,  still  it  has  ideas,  whose  soundness  and  power  have 
been  exemplified  in  a  national  longevity,  which  has  no 
parallel  in  history.  The  one  grand,  formative  idea  of  the 
Chinese  civilization  is  this:  that  the  roots  of  the  State  are  in 
the  Family.  Obedience  to  parents  is  the  beginning  of  all 
civil  order;  the  indispensable  cement,  without  which  the 
whole  vast  fabric  of  the  empire  would  crumble  down.  This, 
too,  was  the  secret  of  the  old  Roman  grandeur.  And,  if  we, 
of  this  western  republic,  have  not  something  to  learn  of  our 
imperial  antipodes  in  this  regard,  then  some  of  our  wisest 
moralists  are  greatly  in  error.  And  let  it  not  be  forgotten, 
that  of  all  uninspired  men  the  Chinese  Confucius,  who  lived 


34 

'^ve  hundred  years  before  our  Christian  era,  has  come  the 
nearest  to  our  Golden  Rule.  In  the  Confucian  Analects  we 
find  this  remarkable  passage :  "  Tsze-Kung  asked,  saying,  '  Is 
there  one  word  which  may  serve  as  a  rule  of  practice  for  all 
one's  life  V  The  Master  said, '  Is  not  Reciprocity  such  a  word  ? 
What  you  do  not  want  done  to  youi-self,  do  not  do  to  others.' " 
Such  are  the  men  who  are  now,  after  centuries  of  isolation, 
asking  to  be  received  into  the  great  fraternity  of  nations. 
They  do  not  come  empty-handed.  Long  ago  they  made  their 
contributions  to  the  common  stock.  Eighteen  hundred  years 
ago  they  were  making  paper ;  more  than  nine  hundred  years 
ago  they  were  printing  books.  They  had  porcelain  vases 
before  those  earthen  vessels  were  miraculously  filled  with 
wine  at  Can  a,  in  Galilee.  Fourteen  hundred  years  ago  their 
boats  were  steered  by  the  needle.  We  used  artillery  for  the 
first  time,  on  the  battlefield  of  Crecy,  in  1346 ;  but  our  gun- 
powder was  almost  identical  with  the  "  fire-drug,"  which  the 
Chinese  had  been  using  in  sport  for  centuries.  Koger  Bacon's 
famous  recipe  for  making  it,  a  recipe  which  had  to  be  written 
blindly,  or  the  author  of  it  might  not  have  been  quite  sure  of 
keeping  his  head  upon  his  shoulders,  came,  no  doubt,  from 
China.  And  still  she  wraps  our  maidens  in  shining  garments, 
and  still  she  provides  their  mothers  with  that  which  cheers 
but  not  inebriates.  (Applause.)  But  now,  at  last,  the  time 
has  come  for  China  to  take  as  well  as  give.  (Cheers.)  The 
great  Middle  Kingdom  no  doubt  is  sagacious  in  thus  inviting 
the  fellowship  of  Christendom.  But  that  man  must  be  singu- 
larly wanting  in  moral  sensibility,  who  does  not  recognize 
in  this  one  of  those  providential  inspirations  which  always 
herald  great  revolutions.  The  scenes  through  which  we  are 
now  passing,  will  be  looked  back  to  by  our  children,  and  the 
children  of  these  Ambassadors,  as  one  of  the  turning  points  of 
history.     ]^o  one  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  globe  can  ever 


35 

go  back  on  the  record  of  these  hours, — and  China,  the  least 
of  all.  She  must  understand,  and  she  does  understand,  that 
she  can  never  undo  this  work.  For  better,  or  for  worse,  she 
is  henceforth  to  be  one  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Every- 
thing she  has,  conies  now  upon  the  sands  of  the  arena ;  every 
art,  every  institution  of  government,  every  idea  of  religion. 
Human  fraternity  is  no  doubt  the  goal ;  but  human  fraternity 
implies  the  divine  paternity ;  and  as  God  is  one,  so,  at  last, 
must  the  religious  fi^ith  of  our  race  be  one.  Just  now  we  are 
hearing  the  voice  of  Commerce;  but  after  this  John  the 
Baptist  of  all  our  modern  history  there  cometh  One,  the 
latchet  of  whose  shoes  commerce  is  not  worthy  to  unloose. 
By  His  plastic  hand  shall  all  taat  is  good  in  all  of  us  be 
moulded  into  one  final  and  perfect  whole. 


Ninth    regular   Toast — "  International    Law,  preserving   Peace  in  both 
Hemispheres."     Responded  to  by  the  Hon.  David  Dudley  Field,  Esq. 

SPEECH   OF  MR.  FIELD. 

International  law  is  rather  a  grave  subject  for  an  after- 
dinner  speech.  But  I  suppose  the  committee  of  aiTangements 
thought  that  the  new  international  relations,  which  this  ban 
quet  celebrates,  required  some  recognition  of  the  value  of  the 
rules  which  define  and  govern  those  relations,  and  the  exten- 
sion and  melioration  which  they  are  likely  to  receive  from 
the  entrance  of  this  new  member  into  the  family  of  nations. 
Certain  it  is,  that  there  never  has  been  presented  a  better  op- 
portunity for  a  reform  of  the  international  code  than  that 
which  this  oriental  mission  now  presents. 


International  law  is  the  fruit  of  international  intercourse. 
It  is  the  slow  growth  of  ages,  first  springing  forth  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  then  cultivated  anew  on  the  Baltic,  and 
thence  extended  into  the  open  ocean,  till  it  encircles  the  globe. 
The  more  nation  meets  nation,  the  more  varied  are  their  rela- 
tions, and  the  more  expanded  become  the  rules  respecting  them. 
International  law  has  grown  into  a  system,  so  vast  in  its  pro- 
portions, and  so  diversified  in  its  details,  that  it  affects,  to  a 
great  degree,  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  human  race. 
Unconscious  of  it,  as  we  may  be,  it,  nevertheless,  guides  and 
supports  us  in  ways  innumerable.  It  marches  at  the  head  of 
armies,  it  commands  in  every  fieet,  it  guards  the  deck  of  the 
merchantman,  it  protects  the  trader,  and  the  traveler  in 
foreign  lands.  Each  new  member  of  the  brotherhood  of 
States  brings  a  contribution  to  its  precepts.  Its  tendency  is 
ever  towards  melioration.  That  great  empire  which  we  now 
welcome  into  the  community  of  nations,  will  help  us,  we 
trust,  to   still   further   meliorations. 

Our  policy  is  peace.  The  benificent  aim  of  tlie  law  of 
nations  is  peace.  And,  although  the  day  may  be  distant 
when  wars  will  cease,  we  believe  that  it  is  possible  to  intro- 
duce such  reformation  of  international  law,  as  greatly  to  lessen 
the  occasions  of  war,  and  to  mitigate  its  evils  when  it  occurs. 
If  the  negotiators  of  any  two  states  of  Christendom  were  to  set 
themselves  industriously  to  work  to  remove  every  cause  of 
difference,  and  interpose  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  occur- 
rence of  hostilities,  can  there  be  a  doubt  that  war  between 
them  would  be  improbable,  not  to  say  impossible  ?     (Cheers.) 

But,  however  it  may  be  between  us  and  the  nations  of 
Europe,  let  us  make  war  impossible,  or  all  but  impossible,  be- 
tween us  and  the  nations  of  Asia.  Here  we  stand,  between  the 
East  and  the  West,  stretching  out  our  hands  over  either  ocean. 
And  while  we  turn  a  face  sometimes  of  defiance  and  anger 


37 

towards  the  former,  let  us  begin  oiir  international  relations  with 
the  latter  in  the  spirit  of  amity  never  to  be  broken.  (Applause.) 
May  the  Pacific  Sea  ever  be  peaceful,  in  another  sense  than 
that  in  which  it  was  named.  May  the  treaty  about  to  be  made 
between  America  and  China,  form  a  new  and  better  chapter 
of  the  law  of  nations ;  the  opening  chapter  of  a  new  book, 
more  benificent  than  any  book  of  treaties  that  has  ever  yet 
been  written.  I  envy  the  negotiatoi-s  of  that  treaty,  both  of 
them  Americans,  representing,  one  the  youngest,  and  the 
other,  the  oldest  of  the  nations.  (Applause.)  The  wise  and 
the  good  of  all  lands  will  say  to  them :  Write  that  which  will 
stand  for  all  time,  as  the  model  of  a  just  and  equal  compact 
between  sovereign  nations,  neither  of  which  desires  an  ad- 
vantage over  the  other,  but  both  of  them  seek  the  freest 
intercourse  of  persons,  the  most  liberal  exchange  of  products, 
constant  reciprocation  of  good  offices,  and  perpetual  peace : 
thus  will  they  help  to  build  up  that  international  code  of  the 
future,  in  describing  which,  I  ^^dll  venture  to  use  the  language, 
slightly  altered,  of  Sir  William  Jones  : 

"And  sovereign  law,  the  worlds  collected  will, 
O'er  thrones  and  globe  elate. 
Sits  Empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill." 

(Loud  applause.) 


lOth  Toast. — "  The  Maritime  Commerce  of  the  Globe."     Responded  to  by 
Hon.  Chas.  P.  Daly. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  CHAS.  P.  DALY. 

Judge  Daly  said  :  I  am  asked,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  respond 
to  the  toast  of  the  Maritime  Commerce  of  the  Globe,  with 
which  I  have  no  other  coimection  except  the  fact  that  I  live 
in  a  maritime  city,  or,  perhaps,  the .  equally  broad  and  general 
one,  that  T  happen  to  be  the  President  of  the  Geographical 
Society.  When  I  remember,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  two-thirds 
of  the  globe  is  covered  with  water,  and  that  maritime  com- 
merce extends  wherever  a  vessel  can  penetrate  and  find 
the  means  of  traffic,  I  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  subject, 
and  the  responsibility  of  attempting  to  handle  it  in  the  pre- 
sence of  so  large  a  representation  of  mercantile  men,  and, 
particularly,  within  the  hearing  of  the  three  distinguished 
merchants  with  whom  I  am  sitting  at  this  end  of  the  table. 
Before  me,  is  Mr.  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  our  metropolitan 
representative  of  the  magnitude  and  energy  of  the  palatial 
Medici.  At  his  side  is  a  gentleman,  who,  though  his  name 
is  Ij)W^  stands  the  highest  in  the  maritime  commerce  of  this 
republic  (cheers) ;  and  at  my  side  is  Mr.  Dodge,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  who  has  modestly  waived 
the  large  subject,  now  committed  to  me,  and  confined  himself 
to  the  limited  range  of  silks,  teas,  and  fireworks.  (Laughter.) 
With  his  example  before  me,  where  shall  I  begin,  and  what 
shall  I  say  %  Shakespeare's  Pitch  offered  to  put  a  girdle 
about  the  globe  in  forty  minutes,  a  feat  that  I  am  expected  to 
perform  in  five,  for  I  take  it  that  that  is  all  the  toleration 
that  will  be  allowed,  at  this  late  hour  of  the  evening,  to  an 
after-diimer  speech  upon  so  wide-spread  a  subject.  But,  Mr. 
Chairman,  we  live  in  a  progressive  age,  and  in  a  country 
distinguished  for  doing  the  largest  amount  of  work  in  the 


39 

smallest  possible  space  of  time,  so  that,  without  stopping  to 
consider  whether  it  is  possible  or  not,  I  shall,  in  the  spirit  of 
Yankee  inspiration,  go  to  work  at  once,  and  undertake  to  do 
it.     (Laughter  and  applause.) 

The  maritime  commerce  of  the  ancient  world,  down  to  the 
time  of  the  middle  ages,  may  be  readily  disposed  of,  by  the 
general  observation  that  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  existed, 
as  maritime  commerce  is  now  understood  and  pursued.  Com- 
merce in  those  davs  was  chiefly  carried  on  upon  rivers,  or 
overland  by  caravans.  The  ocean  was  but  a  limited  field  for 
its  exercise  when  man  was  destitute  of  the  mariner's  compass, 
and  vessels  had  to  keep  within  sight  of  the  land ;  or,  if  they 
found  themselves  beyond  it,  had  to  trust  to  the  guidance  of 
the  stars.  But  this  was  not  all.  Universal  plunder,  or,  as  we 
express  it,  piracy,  was  the  rule  of  the  ocean.  Every  vessel 
that  ventured  upon  it,  did  so  at  the  risk  of  being  captured  by 
any  vessel  she  encountered  that  was  strong  enough  to  do  it. 
Force  was  the  recognized  rule,  and  if  unable  to  resist,  her 
cargo  was  the  victor's  spoil,  and  her  crew  were  sold  as  slaves 
at  the  first  stopping  place.  It  might  be  supposed  that,  under 
such  a  state  of  things,  commerce  upon  the  ocean  was  impossi- 
ble ;  but  then  it  must  be  remembered  that,  if  a  vessel  went  at 
this  peril,  she  went,  also,  with  the  design  and  hope  of  captur- 
ing a  vessel  hei-self.  So  that  the  thing  was  about  balanced, 
or,  as  our  insurance  friends  would  say,  the  risk  was  equal. 
There  were,  it  is  true,  some  nations  that  followed  maritime 
commerce  as  a  business,  like  the  Phenicians,  the  Carthage- 
nians,  or  the  Greeks  of  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  ;  but  it 
arose  from  the  fact  that,  being  stronger  and  better  organized, 
they  were  able  to  do  it,  by  driving  all  weaker  competitors 
from  the  ocean.  If  there  was  any  exception  to  the  rule  of 
universal  plunder  upon  an  element  which  can  be  the  property 
of  no  one  people,  but  is  the  common  highway  for  all,  it  was, 


40 

probably,  on  the  part  of  that  distant  nation  whose  representa- 
tives we  honor  to-night.  When  Father  Kaempfer  returned  to 
Europe,  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  lie 
brought  with  him  a  Japanese  map,  afterwards  published  in 
London,  upon  which  the  North  American  coast  upon  the 
Pacific  was  laid  down,  from  the  Aleutian  Isle  to  the  Gulf  of 
California.  This  early  knowledge  of  our  coast,  we  may 
naturally  infer,  was  not  confined  to  the  Japanese,  but  must 
have  been  equally  well  known  to  their  close  neighbors  in 
China,  showing  that  these  distant  eastern  nations  were,  at  an 
early  period,  geographers,  who,  probably,  acquired  their  in- 
formation of  our  north-western  coast  in  the  pursuit  of  mari- 
time commerce,  at  a  period  of  which  we  have  no  record  ;  and 
if  they  did,  we  may  conclude,  from  their  character  as  mariners 
elsewhere,  that  it  was,  like  the  great  ocean  which  they  were, 
probably,  the  firet  to  traverse,  pacific.  (Cheers.)  This  custom 
of  general  plunder  ceased  only  when  nations  were  compre- 
hensive and  wise  enough  to  keep  an  armed  police  upon  tlie 
ocean.  It  was  not  until  then  that  peaceful  commerce  upon 
the  sea  was  possible,  by  enforcing  and  maintaining  tliese 
rules  and  regulations,  which  have  now  taken  the  form  and 
are  known  as  maritime  law. 

I  offered  to  dispose  of  this  subject  in  five  minutes,  and 
have  but  two  and  a  half  left  for  modern  maritime  commerce. 
(A  voice — "  we  will  give  you  ten.")  What  I  have  to  say, 
then,  in  general  terms,  is  that,  although  modern  maritime 
commerce  is  prosecuted  simply  for  gain,  the  gain  is  not  con- 
fined solely  to  the  mercantile  adventurer,  but  the  results  are 
wide  spread  in  their  effects  upon  the  welfare  of  the  great 
family  of  mankind.  (Loud  cheers.)  When  Magellan,  passing 
.through  the  straits  which  bear  his  name,  entered  upon  the 
great  ocean  of  the  Pacific,  and  his  vessel,  after  the  unhappy 
fate  of  its  commander,  reached  those  islands  which  lie  on  the 


41 

confines  of  the  Chinese  seas,  the  great  feat  of  the  circumnaviga- 
tion of  the  globe  was  not  only  accomplished,  by  the  most 
conclusive  of  all  proofs,  the  fact  of  sailing  around  it,  but  an 
era  was  inaugurated  for  those  peaceful  triumphs  which  are 
achieved  by  maritime  commerce,  the  effect  of  which  we  are 
only  at  this  day  beginning  to  realize,  in  the  contact  and  fusian 
which  is  now  taking  place  between  the  oldest  and  the  newest 
of  existing  civilizations  in  the  great  waters  of  the  Pacific.  It 
is  now  346  years  since  Magellan,  under  perils  that  have  rarely 
been  encountered  by  any  navigator,  and  with  a  hardihood 
that  has  never  been  surpassed,  achieved  enough  to  bring  his 
enterprise  to  a  successful  termination,  within  thirty  years 
after  Columbus  had  discovered  America,  and  twenty-five 
years  after  Vases  de  Gama  had  found  a  passage  to  the  Indies, 
by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  During  these  three 
centuries  and  a  half — a  very  short  period  in  the  history  of 
Asiatic  civilizations — this  continent  has  been  peopled  by  the 
civilized  races  of  Europe,  and  their  descendants  from  the 
frozen  lakes  of  Labrador  to  the  ocean  foamed  cliff's  of  Pata- 
jonia.  Europe,  on  her  part,  was  indebted  for  lier  population 
to  the  tribes  which  migrated  from  the  high  plateaus  of  Cen- 
tral Asia ;  as  she  was  indebted  for  the  first  lights  of  her  knowl- 
edge to  those  grand  old  civilizations  which  spring  up  on  the 
banks  of  the  Xile,  the  Euphrates,  the  Yang-tsc-Ziang,  and  the 
Ganges.  From  the  time  of  recorded  history — and  long  before 
it — the  migratory  movement  of  mankind  has  been  to  the 
west,  and  along  and  within  the  limits  of  the  temperate  zone. 
Though  discrying  and  settling  to  the  north  and  to  the  south, 
the  movement  went  steadily  forward,  and  westward  to  the 
Atlantic,  and  crossing  its  waters  kept  steadily  onward, 
peopleing  the  southern  hemisphere  of  our  continent,  and 
passing  the  barriers  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  imtil,  like 
Magellan's  ship,  it  has  gone  around  the  belt  of  the  globe ; 


42 

and  to-day  stands  face  to  face,  and  is  about  to  mingle  with 
that  old  and  stationary  civilization  which  yet  lingers  in  the 
land  where  the  movement  began.  (Applause.)  It  Ib  a  move- 
ment that  has  never  gone  backward.  The  Portuguese  and 
English,  it  is  true,  have  connected  themselves  with  Asia,  in 
an  opposite  direction,  by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
but  all  that  Portugal  secured  has  been  a  few  remote  commer- 
cial settlements,  and  though  England  has  acquired  political 
dominion,  and  rules  a  vast  population  in  India,  she  has  made 
comparatively  little  impression  upon  the  crystalized  civiliza- 
tion of  the  acute  and  feeble  race  over  which  she  maintains 
supremacy,  by  the  power  of  force  alone.  Far  different  is  the 
majestic  movement  of  which  I  have  been  speaking.  It  is  the 
migratory  instinct  of  mankind,  which  has  hitherto  impelled 
him  to  move  constantly  to  the  west,  and  around  the  belt  of 
the  globe,  discovering,  occupying,  and  settling  countries  pre- 
viously unknown  to  him,  and  subduing,  civilizing,  and  driv- 
ing before  him  the  races  with  which  he  has  come  in  contact. 
The  work  which  this  great  movement  has  hitherto  achieved, 
of  subduing  and  settling  countries  left  in  the  prodigality  of 
nature,  or  disturbed  only  by  the  dominion  of  the  savage,  will 
have  reached  its  limit  upon  the  borders  of  the  Pacific,  and  it  will 
then  be  left  to  react  upon  Asia ;  diffusing  and  spreading  over 
that  land  the  cradle  of  the  human  race,  the  civilization  which 
has  been  the  first  of  this  movement,  which  it  has  developed 
and  carried  with  it  in  its  march  around  the  globe.  (Cheers.) 
This  exaction  from  the  west,  upon  Asia,  will  be  chiefly 
brought  about  by  agencies  of  maritime  commerce  upon  the 
Pacific,  which,  at  some  future  day,  will  compare  with  the 
Atlantic  in  the  ships  that  will  speckle  its  surface,  and  in  the 
magnitude  and  variety  of  the  products  that  will  be  wafted 
across  its  waters. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Chairman,  let  me  say  a  word  to  the  gen- 


43 

tlemen  liere  who  are  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  maritime  com- 
merce in  this  great  maritime  city.  Were  it  not  for  the  patient 
investigation  and  life  long  labors  of  the  men  who  discovered 
the  means  by  which  the  mariner  can  tell,  in  the  wilderness  of 
waters,  exactly  where  he  is,  and  find  his  way  across  the  ocean 
almost  as  readily  as  he  can  upon  the  land,  maritime  commerce 
as  it  exists  to-day,  with  its  rich  rewards  and  its  civilizing  in- 
fluence, would  have  been  impossible.  It  is  to  the  men  of 
science  that  the  merchant  owes  it  that  his  vocation  has  be- 
come the  dignified*  influential,  and  remunerative  pursuit  that 
it  is.  It  is  to  them  and  to  the  bold  navigators  who  ventured 
upon  regions  unknown  that  pathways  for  maritime  commerce 
have  been  opened,  and  remote  and  distant  parts  of  the  world 
brought  into  intimate  and  constant  connection.  Great  as  has 
been  the  work  hitherto  achieved  in  the  world's  past  history, 
much  still  remains  to  be  accomplished  by  the  patient  man  of 
science,  and  by  the  active  maritime  explorer,  and  as  it  has 
done  in  the  past,  so  will  it  in  the  future  tend  to  the  advance- 
ment of  maritime  commerce,  and  to  the  increase  of  the  bene- 
ficial influences  that  follow  in  its  train.  Maritime  discovery 
was  materially  aided  in  its  earlier  efibrts  by  the  far-sighted 
sagacity  and  enterprise  of  the  merchants  of  London  and 
Amsterdam,  and  in  our  own  day  a  portion  of  the  Arctic  re- 
gions bear  the  name  of  a  merchant  of  IS^ew  York,  and  that 
name  found  inscribed  upon  our  planet  will  preserve  through 
future  ages  the  memory  of  his  public  spirit  and  his  enterprise. 
To  the  merchant,  the  man  of  science,  and  the  explorer  has  not 
always  been  the  object  of  interest  that  he  should  be,  and 
neither  have  been  hitherto  aided  by  the  mercantile  classes  to 
an  extent  at  all  commensurate  with  the  benefits  conferred  by 
their  labors  upon  the  mercantile  vocation  and  its  interest. 
With  respect  to  what  remains  to  be  done  in  the  acquisition  of 
a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  our  globe,  the  merchant  should 


u 

be  among  tlie  first  to  sympathize  with  and  encourage  the 
scientific  investigator,  and  to  him  it  peculiarly  belongs  to  aid 
the  maritime  explorer — remembering  that  the  great  navigators 
of  the  past,  to  whom  commerce  owes  so  much,  found  little  to 
reward  them  for  their  labors  during  life  except  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  immortality  so  felicitously  expressed  by  the  poet 
Campbell  in  the  closing  lines  of  the  poem  addressed  to  the 
memory  of  the  illustrious  La  Perouse : 

Fair  Science,  on  the  ocean's  azure  robe, 

Still  writes  his  name  in  picturing  the  globe, 

And  wreathes,  what  fairer  wreathe  could  glory  twine. 

His  watery  course,  a  world  encircling  line. 

(Applause.) 


11th  Toast. — "  The  Labor  of  China  and  the  Labor  of  America."  Responded 
to  by  the  Hon.  Edwards  Pierrepont. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  PIERREPONT. 

Mr.  President :  It  seems  to  me  that  any  one  who  considers 
this  remarkable  banquet,  and  undertakes  to  find  out  by  reason 
the  subtle  causes  which  have  led  to  it,  will  finally  conclude 
that  "  there  is  a  special  Providence  in  the  fall  of  a  sparrow," 
and  in  the  founding  of  an  Empire,  and  that  man  has  but  little 
control  over  the  march  of  great  events. 

The  few  remarks  which  I  shall  make  in  response  to  this 
toast,  may  interest  the  young  merchant  who  proposes  to  make 
great  fortune  out  of  Chinese  and  American  labor,  and  possibly 
also  the  young  politician  who  proposes  to  make  great  fame 
out  of  repudiation  of  the  National  Debt. 


45 

If  you'  send  a  colony  of  500  men  with  their  wives,  to  an 
uninhabited  island  in  the  sea,  where  the  soil  is  fertile,  and 
where  the  minerals  used  in  the  arts  abound,  the  future  of  that 
colony  will  depend  upon  its  capacity  to  perform  intelligent 
labor.  If  it  is  composed  of  nobles  from  Europe,  high  Man- 
darins from  China,  and  cultivated  idlei*s  from  America,  it  wiU 
make  but  a  poor  start  in  founding  a  great  empire. 

The  German,  Irish,  Chinese  and  American  laborers  are  now 
busily  at  work  layiijg  the  foundation  stones  for  the  collossal 
pillars  of  an  empire  such  as  the  world  never  saw.  They  are 
as  unconscious  of  the  work  which  they  are  building,  as  are  the 
little  coral-insects  when  they  begin  to  raise  an  island  in  the 
ocean. 

The  power  to  subdue  the  earth  by  toil,  to  make  it  fraitful 
and  beautiful,  comes  of  necessity.  Men  born  to  ease  and  bred 
in  dalliance,  cannot  make  laborers,  and  if  all  were  such  the 
race  would  soon  perish,  without  a  flood. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  when  alien 
laws  were  passed,  and  when  foreign  laborers  were  not  encour- 
aged to  come  to  x\merica.  Tlie  records  of  that  time  show 
that  the  Irish  worker  who  landed  on  our  shores,  eager  to  work 
for  bread  was  not  welcome.  American  laborers  thought  the 
Irish  laborer  would  make  labor  cheap  and  reduce  wages. 
Even  statesmen  shared  in  the  prejudice  and  opposed  emigra- 
tion. 

But  driven  by  dire  necessity  and  oppressed  by  unjust  laws, 
foreign  laborers  would  come  to  America,  and  soon  the  more 
sagacious  statesmen  saw  that  the. future  greatness  of  this 
country  depended  upon  the  supply  of  cheap  labor,  and  that  it 
could  only  come  from  the  old  world — the  Erie  Canal  was  be- 
gun, and  every  foreign  hand  which  could  use  a  spade  was 
needed. 

Becently,  the  Chinese,  driven  by  poverty,  the  result  of 


46 

over-population  and  peculiar  laws,  began  to  flock  to  Cali- 
fornia. The  same  prejudice  against  cheap  labor  met  the 
Chinaman  in  California  which  had  met  the  Irishman  in 
Kew  England  and  IS^ew  York,  and  statutes  were  passed  very 
discouraging  to  Chinese  emigration. 

The  Pacific  Railway  was  commenced,  and  now  'tis  seen 
that  the  Chinese  are  needed  there,  and  the  prejudice  is  fading 
away,  and  all  enlightened  men  perceive  that  Chinese 
labor  will  do  for  the  Pacific  coast  what  Irish  and  German 
labor  has  already  done  for  the  Atlantic.  To-day  the  China- 
man on  the  West,  and  the  Irishman  on  the  East  of  the  Great 
Mountains,  are  digging  their  slow,  toilsome  way  towards  each 
other.  In  a  few  short  months  they  will  meet.  In  a  strange, 
wild  land  they  will  meet — each  far  from  his  native  home — each 
looking  strange  to  the  other,  strange  in  costume,  strange  in 
features,  strange  in  language  and  habits,  strange  in  every  tie 
of  kindred — each  having  Gods  strange  to  the  other ;  and  yet, 
obedient  to  the  mandate  of  the  same  great,  unknown  God, 
both  have  sailed  over  stormy  seas,  and  dug  through  high 
mountains  to  make  a  highway  for  the  nations  of  the  whole 
earth  ; — and  here  they  stand,  face  to  face,  and  they  know  not 
why ;  wholly  unconscious  that  the  day  of  their  meeting  is  the 
most  eventful  that  ever  dawned  upon  the  human  race.  Pre- 
saging these  great  events,  what  do  we  behold  to-night  ?  A 
I^ew  England  Puritan,  Embassador  from  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire !  When  your  boyhood  was  at  play  in  your  native  State, 
would  you  have  believed  this,  even  though  an  angel  had  re- 
vealed it  ?  When  in  the  .prime  of  manhood,  you  held  your 
seat  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  did  you  even  dream  of  it  ? 
I  doubt  not  you  will  tell  us  that  no  plan  of  yours  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  and  that  you  will  reverently  say  that  you 
are  but  the  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God. 

The  great  want  of  America  is  manual  labor;  the  great 


47 

want  of  China  is  employment  for  such  labor.  How  mutual 
the  advantage  to  each !  The  Chinese  are  patient,  frugal, 
peaceful  and  industrious ;  skilled  in  labor,  and  familiar  with 
the  cultivation  of  rice  and  of  cotton. 

It  took  the  hot  and  glowing  fires  of  war  to  bum  up  the 
fiend  of  slavery.  The  cheap  labor  of  the  bondsman  has 
perished,  but  in  its  stead,  and  more  than  to  supply  its  place, 
we  see  rolling  over  upon  the  waves  of  the  Pacific  an  hundred 
millions  of  willing  hands  to  enrich  and  to  beautify  our  land  ; 
and  the  unnumbered  millions  of  wealth  which  will  thus  be 
developed,  when  added  to  the  vast  commercial  values  which 
will  surely  spring  up,  have  hardly  entered  into  the  imagina- 
tion to  conceive. 

If  there  is  present  a  merchant,  who  expects  to  live  thirty 
years,  and  who  wishes  his  son  succeeding  him,  to  amass  a 
fortune,  in  comparison  with  which  that  of  the  Medici  were 
poverty,  let  him  build  ships  to  run  between  China  and  our 
Pacific  coast. 

It  is  true  that  the  present  outward  freight  from  California 
to  China  is  dead  Chinamen  ;  those  cargoes  will  increase,  and 
it  is  not  an  unprofitable  commerce.  We  take  out  dead  China- 
men, but  we  bring  back  live  ones,  willing  tillers  of  the  soil. 
We  send  to  France  corn  and  wheat,  and  gold,  and  we  bring 
back — what  ? — liye,  laboring  Frenchmen  ? — scarce  one  !  We 
bring  back  wines,  and  silks,  and  laces  ;  fashions  and  vices,  to 
corrupt  our  women,  and  to  demoralize  our  men. 

The  completion  of  the  Pacific  road,  the  opening  trade  with 
the  East,  and  the  vast  emigration  from  China,  are  the  grand 
events  which  follow  our  terrible  war,  and  reveal  something  of 
our  great  destiny.  So  clear  will  this  appear,  even  before  the 
next  November,  that  the  national  debt  will  seem  a  trifle^  and 
no  repudiator  will  receive  the  votes  of  an  honest  people. 

Men,  sipping  costly  wines  over  luxurious  tables,  complain 


48 

much  of  our  institutions,  murmur  about  taxes,  the  national 
debt,  the  wrongs  of  the  individual,  and  the  lack  of  refined  and 
elevated  men  in  the  counsels  of  the  nation. 

The  great  middle-class,  eating  their  frugal  dinners,  and 
drinking  beer  or  water,  make  no  such  complaints.  They  find 
that  they  are  protected  in  their  liberties,  receive  the  reward 
of  their  toil,  are  able  to  educate  their  children,  and  to  see 
them  advance  in  the  scale  of  life.  They  see  that  railroads 
are  made,  forests  subdued,  mines  opened,  and  that  the  general 
intelligence,  comfort,  and  prosperity,  are  unequalled  in  the 
whole  world.  The  institutions  of  a  country  are  to  be  viewed 
as  a  whole,  and  when  the  grand  resultant  is  unparelleled 
prosperity  and  general  advancement,  we  .may  be  sure  that 
the  Government  is  good. 

We  hear  sensible  men  express  many  fears  about  the  finances 
of  our  country.  With  the  knowledge  that  what  I  now  say  will 
be  printed  in  the  records  of  this  night,  I  venture  to  predict 
that  we  are  much  nearer  to  resumption  of  payment  in  coin 
than  is  generally  supposed.  I  entertain  no  fears  upon  the 
subject.  I  see  causes  at  work,  (and  of  these  causes  the  emi- 
gration of  Chinese  labor  is  one,)  which  will  enable  us  to  pay 
our  obligations  in  gold  as  they  mature,  and  which  will  make 
New  York  the  monetary  centre  of  the  world. 

I  think  it  can  be  demonstrated  that  present  high  prices  are 
not  caused,  to  any  very  considerable  degree,  by  the  paper 
currency.  The  important  article  of  coal  is  much  lower  than 
when  gold  was  the  medium  of  trade.  The  same  is  true  of 
delanes,  and  of  many  other  fabrics  in  general  use.  No  one 
thinks  these  low  prices  are  due  to  paper  money ;  neither  is 
the  high  price  of  labor,  to  any  considerable  extent,  due  to 
that  cause.  It  is  generally  supposed,  that  when  we  return  to 
gold  payments,  then  prices  will  generally  fall.  Time  will 
show  that  this  is  an  entire  mistake,  and  he  that  buys  or  sells 


49 

on  that  theory  will  not  profit  by  his  fears.  The  price  of  labor 
in  London  is  far  higher  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago,  and  yet 
gold  and  silver  are  the  currency.  The  expenses  of  living  in 
Paris,  as  I  have  reason  to  know,  have  advanced  nearly  the 
same  as  in  ^ew  York,  and  yet  France  has  all  the  time  had  gold 
as  her  currency.  An  able  administration  of  our  finances  would 
bring  us  to  specie  payments  by  the  first  of  January  next,  and 
without  any  general  derangement  of  business,  and  with  an 
immense  gain  to  the  nation. 

Chinese  and  American  labor  combined,  will  soon  make 
gold  and  silver  the  cun-ency  of  this  country,  in  spite  of  bad 
management,  and  without  repudiation  of  a  dollar  of  our  debt. 

We  hail  the  advent  of  this  embassy  from  the  far  East  as 
the  harbinger  of  great  blessings  to  that  over-peopled  empire, 
and  as  the  dawn  of  a  glorious  future  for  our  beloved  land. 
(Applause.) 


12.— The  Twelfth  Regular  Toast—"  The  Press." 
Responded  to  by  the  Hon,  Horace  Greeley. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.   GREELEY. 

I  think  we  may  fairly  claim  for  the  Press  this,  that,  with 
all  its  imperfections,  and  sharing,  as  it  doubtless  does,  the 
passions  of  its  patrons,  it  has  done  more,  on  the  whole,  to 
moderate  than  to  stimulate  those  rapacious  instincts  and  those 
ambitious  passions  of  mankind,  which  have  been  the  great 
obstacles  to  human  progress,  especially  in  the  spheres  of  art 
and  industry,  and  more  than  all  of  intelligence.  We  have 
4 


50 

heard  to-night  very  much  said  of  the  advantages  and  the 
blessings  of  material  commerce ;  and  all  of  it,  I  doubt  not, 
truly.  I  think,  however,  that  nations  have  profited  more 
decidedly,  more  consistently,  or  rather  permanently,  by  the 
commerce  of  ideas,  than  by  the  commerce  in  material  objects. 
And  now,  if  China  and  this  country  are  to  come,  as  I  trust 
they  may,  into  more  harmonious  and  intimate  relations  than 
they  have  hitherto  held,  I  hope  that  she  will  gain  more 
of  us  by  borrowing  our  arts  and  our  ideas,  and  that  we  shall 
gain  more  of  her,  as  I  doubt  not  we  ccm  gain  more,  by  so 
borrowing  of  her  those  which  are  the  less  material  trophies 
of  her  progress  and  her  thought,  than  by  the  simple  inter- 
change of  commodities.  (Applause.)  Mr.  Chairman,  I  heard 
the  worthy  Mayor  of  our  city  make  the  suggestion,  that  the 
commerce — by  which  I  think  he  meant  the  navigation — of  this 
country,  was  now  very  materially  depressed;  and  I  would 
not  wish  to  contradict  his  assertion  on  that  subject.  I  would 
wish  only,  on  behalf  of  the  ideas  which  I  mean  to  represent, 
and  of  the  principles  which  I  am  alloAved  to  speak  for  here,  to 
make  this  suggestion — that  never,  I  think,  in  the  past  history 
of  mankind,  has  any  nation  been  largely  prosperous  and 
commanding  in  commerce  which  was  not  also  foremost  and 
prosperous  in  manufactures.  (Applause.)  In  other  words : 
that  the  great  interests  of  human  industry  and  human 
advancement  are  coordinate;  that  the  prosperity  of  each  is 
bound  up  with  the  prosperity  of  every  other,  (applause,)  and 
that  they  must  flourish  or  perish  together.  I  hope  the  time 
is  not  distant  when,  through  the  journals  of  China  and 
of  America,  there  shall  be  brought  about  a  more  complete 
understanding  between  the  two  peoples,  which  will  lead,  I 
doubt  not,  to  a  better  and  a  higher  appreciation  of  each  other. 
Ignorant  nations  in  all  time,  and  ignorant  races  and  peoples 
are  prone  to  disparage  every  other  race  or  people  than  them- 


51 

selves.  As  men's  ideas  enlarge,  or  rather,  as  their  knowledge 
ig  increased,  they  come,  better  and  better — that  is,  more  highly 
and  truly — to  appreciate  each  other.  (Applause.)  Such,  I 
trust,  is  to  be  the  consequence  of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
intercourse  which  is  about  to  be  inaugurated  between  this 
country  and  the  oldest  nation  of  the  world,  and  which,  I  trust, 
is  to  be  increased  and  improved  through  the  medium  of  the 
public  press.     (Loud  cheers.) 


The  President  then  announced  the  following : 

13. — "  One  uniform  metallic  currency  for  the  entire  world." 

The  Hon.  Samuel  B,  Ruggles  was  called  upon  to  respond. 

SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.   SAMUEL   B.   RUGGLES 

Mr.  President: — We  are  here  to-night  in  that  hopeful 
spirit  so  peculiar  to  our  country,  to  celebrate,  by  anticipation, 
the  coming  interfusion  of  the  commerce,  the  industry,  the  law, 
and  last,  not  least,  the  money  of  the  two  hemispheres  of  our 
globe.  More  especially  are  we  here,  to  welcome  with  proud 
and  joyful  emotions  the  advent  of  the  distinguished  Embassy 
now  present,  from  the  most  ancient  of  the  Empires  of  Asia, 
the  cradle  of  our  race — and  to  express  in  advance,  our  confi- 
dence in  its  varied  and  comprehensive  ability,  speedily  to 
effect  the  great  conjunction  so  important  to  civilized  man. 

The  formal  expression,  in  due  order,  of  our  sentiments  on 
this  occasion,  has  been  commenced  by  appropriate  toasts  in 
honor  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Emperor 
of  China ;  preeminently  the  antipodal  political  personages  of  the 


52 

globe.  The  toast  now  proposed  you  have  purposely  reserved 
for  the  last,  to  introduce  to  this  assembly  a  potentate  far  more 
exalted,  swaving  a  power  far  more  pervading  and  transcendent 
than  all  the  presidents  and  all  the  emperors  that  ever  trod 
this   earth. 

This  august  personage — this  earthly  "  king  of  kings,"  is 
MOXEY !  the  undisputed  monarch  of  the  world — aye,  of  "  the 
roimd  world  and  them  that  dwell  therein/"' — the  potent  main- 
spring of  all  the  machinery  of  human  society,  unceasingly 
and  untirinsclv  re2:ulatinor  and  ffuidinor  the  movement  of  all 
the  civilization  on  the  globe — and,  above  all,  as  the  greatest 
of  earthly  Divinities,  the  object  of  profoundest  worship 
by  a  vast  majority  of  the  human  race,  especially  in  this,  our 
goodly  city. 

By  a  singular  dispersion,  this  great  power  is  almost  infinite- 
simally  divided,  and  made  visible  in  more  than  700,000,000 
of  circular  bits  of  gold,  with  an  aggregate  pecuniary  value 
of  at  least  $3,000,000,000— each  bearing  on  its  face  the  head 
of  the  local  sovereign  within  whose  territories  it  has  been 
issued  to  the  world.  Throughout  the  broad  expanse  of  our 
American  Union,  now  looking  out  upon  the  two  great  oceans, 
and  far  away  into  the  Polar  Basin,  these  golden  tokens  of 
power  bear  the  head  of  "  Liberty,"  our  legitimate  sovereign, 
with  the  classic  Eagle  coming  down  from  antiquity,  the 
historically  established  symbol  of  imperial  sovereignty. 

Of  this  great  aggregate  of  $3,000,000,000,  nearly  all  is  found 
in  eighteen  of  the  nations  of  Eiu-ope,  and  in  the  United  States. 
The  transcendent  importance  of  a  unifonuity  of  weight  and 
quality  in  a  mass  thus  enormous,  is  so  self-evident  that  the  long 
n3glect  of  the  leading  commercial  nations  fully  to  secure  it, 
and  their  singular  acquiesence  in  the  inconvenience  and  injury 
hourly  resulting  from  the  wide  diversity  in  the  existing 
coinages,  have  become  a  serious  blot  on  civilization. 


53 

We  should,  however,  remember  that  the  present  nations  of 
Enrope  (excepting  one  or  two  of  the  most  northern)  being 
wholly  composed  of  the  d^ris  of  the  Roman  Empire,  slowly 
picked  up  and  put  together,  came  into  the  world  in  a  loose 
and  i&agmentary  manner — ^whereas  the  American  Union  was 
r^ularly  bom  according  to  law,  and  that,  too,  by  a  written 
constitution  which  unified  the  coinage,  for  all  coming  time, 
thionghout  the  whole  extent  of  the  Eepublic,  in  its  area 
already  eqnal  to  that  of  Europe. 

It  is  due  alike  to  historic  tmth,  and  to  public  duty,  to  state 
and  claim,  now  and  here,  that  this  great  measure  of  interna- 
tional monetary  unity  is  fir  more  American  than  European  in 
its  ori^n.  It  is  true  that  pardal  efforts  had  been  made  in 
gome  small  a^embli^  lepres^itin^  portions  of  continental 
Europe,  to  bring  them  into  monetary  accord,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  International  Congress  at  Berlin,  in  IS^,  that  any  distinct 
proposition  was  made  in  any  appropriate  public  assembly,  to 
unify  even  the  three  discordant  coinages  of  the  United  States, 
Great  Britain,  and  France. 

The  stadsties  of  the  subject  are  few  and  simple.  Disre- 
garding minute  firactions,  the  half  eagle,  our  gold  five  dollar 
piece,  weighs  129  grains,  the  British  sovereign  126  grains, 
the  new  Frendi  piece  of  25  francs  125  grains.  The  half 
eagle  is  worth  13  cents  more  than  the  sovereign,  and  ITJ 
cents  more  than  tlie  25  francs. 

At  the  Berlin  Congress,  the  British  delegates  proposed  to 
reduce  the  half  eagle  to  the  sov^eign,  to  which  the  delegate 
from  the  United  States  objected,  but  proposed  to  leduce  both 
to  the  25  francs.  The  latter  proposition  is  embraced  in  the 
plan  adopted  by  llie  Paris  Monetary  Conference  of  1867,  after 
carelnl  couMd^stion,  and  a  neariy  unanimous  vote  of  the 
delegate  of  the  nineteen  nati<M[fts  repiesoited. 


54 

Its  adoption  by  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  or  by 
either,  would  be  followed,  without  delay,  by  the  remaining 
nations  of  Europe,  six  of  which  have  already  unified  their  gold 
coinage  with  that  of  France,  and  united  in  monetary  accord 
a  continental  population  of  110,000,000. 

It  is  now  known  from  good  authority,  that  Canada,  and  also 
the  South  American  States,  and  in  all  probability  Mexico,  will 
be  ready  at  once  to  adopt  the  plan  of  the  Conference,  so  that  it 
would  only  need  the  accession  of  the  civilized  nations  of 
Eastern  Asia — for  which,  under  the  happy  auspices  of  this 
evening,  we  may  confidently  look — fully  to  gratify  the  com- 
prehensive wish  of  the  toast  now  proposed,  for  "  One  Uniform 
Metallic  Currency  [meaning  money]  for  the  Entire  World." 
By  such  a  consummation,  the  American  eagle  and  its  subdi- 
visions would  have  precisely  the  same  value  and  the  same 
currency  at  New  York  and  Pekin,  at  London  and  Paris, 
at  Valparaiso  and  Archangel,  on  the  Alps  and  on  the 
Andes — on  all  the  lands  and  all  the  seas  of  our  terraqueous 
globe. 

If  the  members  of  the  Paris  Conference  did  any  thing 
whatever  deserving  the  approval  of  their  fellow  men,  it  was 
their  prompt  and  unanimous  resolution  in  favor  of  a  single 
standard  of  money,  to  consist  exclusively  of  gold,  thereby 
condemning,  and  cutting  up  by  the  roots,  all  attempts,  by 
mere  legislation,  to  fix  the  comparative  values  of  gold  and 
silver,  in  their  very  nature  incessantly  fluctuating,  and  gov- 
erned only  by  the  inexorable  law  of  demand  and  supply.  If 
this  be  so — and  who  can  deny  it  ? — legal  money  may  consist 
either  of  gold  or  silver,  but,  practically,  cannot  consist  of  both. 
One  or  the  other,  whether  coined  or  uncoined,  will  fluctuate 
as  merchandise,  and  be  sold  as  such.  Let  us,  therefore,  fully 
comprehend  the  significance  of  the  little  word,  "  One,"  wisely 
inserted  in  the  toast,  as  having  peculiar  force  and  value. 


55 

This  superfluous  weight  of  S^  per  cent,  in  our  gold  coinage  is 
the  peraieious  result  of  these  vain  attempts  to  fix  by  law  the 
comparative  value  of  gold  and  silver.  As  long  ago  as  1834, 
the  idea  was  abandoned  by  Congress,  who  then  reduced  the 
weight  of  our  gold  nearly  5  per  cent.  No  good  reason  can 
now  be  given  why  the  present  excess  of  3^  per  cent,  should 
not  be  discarded  at  once.  As  soon  as  it  shall  be  extracted 
from  our  eagles,  thereby  equalizing  their  weight  with  the 
corresponding  coins  in  France  and  Great  Britain,  all  will 
freely  circulate,*  side  by  side,  around  the  world,  unobstructed 
by  brokerage,  recoinage  or  other  impediment.  The  yearly 
loss  to  the  world  by  the  present  needless  recoinages  and  bro- 
kerages, amounts  to  several  millions  of  dollars. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  American  Union,  which  yields 
the  greatest  part  of  the  annual  product  of  gold  in  the  world, 
and  is  soon  to  produce  a  still  greater  portion,  constantly  coins  it 
into  eagles  by  tens  of  millions,  and  sends  them  out  to  Europe, 
only  to  be  instantly  recoined,  on  their  arrival.  It  is  indeed  "  a 
sorry  sight "  to  see  the  imperial  bird,  the  very  type  of  the  great 
Republic,  crossing  the  ocean,  and  touching  the  Continent 
only  to  descend  into  the  melting  pots  of  the  mints  of  Paris 
and  London.  For  one,  Mr.  President,  I  confess  that  I  do  not 
relish  the  performances  of  these  transatlantic  crucibles,  trans- 
muting his  noble  plumage  into  the  grim  moustache  of  the 
Third  Napoleon,  or  the  waving  tresses  of  Queen  Yictoria.  On 
the  contrary,  I  shall  unceasingly  labor  to  break  them  up,  by 
lightening  his  needless  load,  so  that  he  may  cross  the  European 
continent,  free  from  further  molestation,  to  visit  his  kindred 
eagles  in  Prussia,  Austria  and  Russia,  not  forgetting  on  his 
way  to  look  in  upon  the  intelligent  and  trusty  friends  in 
Turkey  of  a  world-wide  coinage,  one  of  whom,  the  accom- 
plished Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Sultan,  now  honors 
this  assembly  with  his  presence. 


56 

We  have  listened  this  evening,  with  the  highest  satisfac- 
tion and  instruction,  to  the  glowing  and  noble  words  of  the 
Chief  of  the  Embassy  now  before  us,  inculcating  the  sacred 
principles  of  equal  justice  and  full  reciprocity,  as  the  very 
foundation-stone,  laid  in  remote  antiquity,  of  the  public  policy 
of  China,  embodied  in  their  maxim,  older  than  the  coming  of 
Christ,  "  Do  not  unto  others  what  you  would  not  have  others 
do  unto  you."  Guided  by  this  truly  golden  rule,  may  not  our 
government  at  Washington,  amid  the  many  commingling 
elements  of  a  common  and  advancing  civilization,  now  well 
ask  the  government  at  Pekin,  to  receive  the  metallic  money 
of  the  United  States,  especially  when  unified  with  that  of 
Europe,  and  to  coin  for  us,  in  return,  the  money  of  the  em- 
pire, bearing  its  peculiar  emblems,  but  of  equal  weight  and 
value  ?  Mr.  President,  if  I  can  read  aright  the  animated  and 
expressive  features  of  our  long-valued  friend  and  compatriot 
at  your  side,  the  head  of  this  honorable  Embassy,  he  will  cer- 
tainly be  ready,  at  the  proper  time,  respectfully  to  consider 
this  suggestion.  His  government,  surely,  will  not  fail  to  per- 
ceive, that  the  completed  monetary  unity  of  our  "  Occidental " 
world,  including  Great  Britain  and  Pussia,  necessarily  draw- 
ing after  them  their  wide-spread  territories  in  Hindustan  and 
Australia,  and  along  the  upper  Pacific,  will  carry  the  uniform 
coin  to  the  very  Wall  of  China.  Is  it  credible  that,  with  the 
high  enlightenment  of  such  an  Embassy,  the  statesmen  of 
China  will  consent  thereafter  to  remain  for  a  moment  in  soli- 
tary and  selfish  isolation,  the  only  exile  from  the  great  family 
of  nations  ? 

Last  July  a  paragraph  appeared  in  one  of  the  Paris  news- 
papers, stating  that  a  company  in  China  had  undertaken  the 
work  of  striking  silver  coins,  of  European  fashion,  of  one  franc, 
ten  francs,  and  twenty  francs,  bearing  on  their  face  the  head  of 
the  Chinese  Emperor,  and  on  the  reverse  the  flying  dragon, 


67 

the  long  established  emblem  of  the  Empire.  I  cannot  but 
regard  such  a  creature  as  tolerably  fitted  to  "  break  the 
ice"  in  this  monetary  effort,  especially  in  Asia.  I  am  also  com- 
forted and  flattered,  Mr.  President,  by  the  assurance  of  an  emi- 
nent geologist,  that  this  grotesque  and  ancient  monster  is  the 
huge  pre-adamite  prototype  or  ancestor  of  the  modest  and 
unpretending  "  eagle  "  of  our  happy  land. 

From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  rejoice  in  beholding  him, 
as  I  now  do,  emblazoned  on  the  Imperial  flag,  of  golden  yel- 
low, of  the  Celestial  Empire,  so  closely  entwined  with  the  im- 
perishable ensign  of  the  American  Union,  but  I  shall  rejoice, 
with  a  far  deeper  joy,  to  see  him  emblazoned  on  the  uniform 
coinage  of  gold,  so  long  desired,  forming  part  of  that  majestic 
monetary  belt  which  must,  sooner  or  later,  in  God's  great 
providence,  encircle  the  globe. 


In  reply  to  invitations  to  be  present,  the  following  letters, 
among  others,  were  received  by  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments : 

FROM  SECRETARY  SEWARD. 

Department  op  State,  June  20, 1868. 
Gentlemen  :  I  regret  that  my  engagements  at  the  capital 
render  it  impossible  for  me  to  accept  your  kind  invitation  to 
the  dinner  which  you  propose  to  give  to  the  Legation  from 
China.  On  all  subjects  which  concern  the  commercial  rela- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  China,  a  mutual  undei*standing 
exists  between  Prince  Kung,  at  the  head  of  foreign  affairs  in 
that  empire,  and  the  head  of  the  Department  of  State  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Burlingame  is  authorized  to  communi- 
cate to  you  Prince  Kung's  views  and  sentiments  in  regard  to 
those  international  interests,  and  my  esteemed  friends,  their 
Excellencies  Chih-Tajen  and  Sun  Tajen,  I  am  sure,  wiU  kindly 


68 

be   the   interpreters   of   mine.     Wishing   you   a   celebration 

worthy  of  the  magnitude  of  the  occasion,  I  am,  gentlemen, 

with  great  respect,  your  humble  servant, 

WM.  H.  SEWAKD. 

To  Messrs.  Elliot  C.  Cowdtn,  Charles  P.  Daly,  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
Marshall  O.  Roberts,  J.  F,  Kensett,  William  H.  Fogg,  Edwards 
PiERREPONT,  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  Isaac  H. 
Bailey,  Henry  Clews,  Charles  S.  Smith,  Committee  of  Arrangements. 


1 


FROM  SENATOR  MORGAN. 

United  States  Senate  Chamber, 
Washington,  June  10. 
Sir  :  Yon  have  honored  me  with  an  invitation  to  a  dinner 
to  be  given  by  citizens  of  Kew  York  to  Mr.  Burlingame  and 
his  associates  of  the  Chinese  embassy,  on  the  23d  inst.  The 
session  of  Congress  is  so  near  its  close  that  I  am  reluctantly 
compelled  to  deny  myself  the  satisfaction  which  its  acceptance 
would  afford  me.  As  a  merchant  of  ]S^ew  York  I  applaud 
this  mark  of  respect.  The  most  populous  city  of  the  nation 
wisely  emulates  the  young  and  thriving  metropolis  of  the 
Pacific  States  in  offering  to  these  representatives  of  the  great 
Oriental  power  attentions  so  well  their  due.  We  welcome  the 
embassy  at  a  transformation  period.  Their  advent,  in  itself, 
one  of  the  weightiest  evidences  of  a  new  order  of  international 
relationship,  occurs  at  a  junction  most  opportune  for  us.  Sec- 
tional interests  have  become  merged,  internal  improvements 
are  reaching  greater  usefulness,  our  broadest  rivers  are  being 
bridged,  and  our  lines  of  telegraph  and  railway,  are  soon  to 
connect  all  parts  of  the  country  with  ports  and  places  most 
easily  reached  from  China  and  Eastern  Asia.  To  commerce 
the  visit  is  auspicious.  We  shall  not  overrate  its  importance 
however  high  our  estimate.     Intercourse  with  China  will  also 


59 

afford  broader  standards  for  population  and  productive  indus- 
try ;  and  our  rapid  growth  must  soon  force  us  to  contemplate 
certain  economic  features  peculiar  to  that  country,  as  in  com- 
pactness and  extent  of  habitable  territory,  favorableness  of 
climate,  and  capacity  to  sustain  a  vast  population,  no  nation 
so  much  resembles  that  great  Empire  as  the  United  States. 

I  need  not  refer  to  the  causes  that  concurred  in  preparing  us 
to  receive  these  representatives,  and  that  induced  China  to 
cast  aside  the  non-intercourse  policy  of  ages — to  seek  her  place 
among  the  nations.  But  we  may  profit  by  the  wisdom  that 
accredited  an  Embassy,  selected  in  the  spirit  of  true  statesman- 
ship, to  all  treaty  powers,  charged  with  a  mission  so  practical. 
That  country,  in  an  important  respect,  ofiers  us  the  experience 
of  centuries.  Her  municipal  functionaries  are  held  to  single 
responsibility  for  local  good  order.  In  a  densely  populated 
empire,  numbering  a  third  of  the  population  of  the  globe, 
this  fact  is  there,  as  it  must  become  here,  a  question  of  vital 
moment.  China  produces  great  staples  which  we  need,  and 
we  in  turn  supply  largely  of  what  they  lack.  They  are  not  a 
maritime  people ;  we  are.  They  are  a  trading  people ;  so  is 
the  United  States.  Enlarged  intercourse,  therefore,  must  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  of  both,  and  we  may  lay  deep  the  founda- 
tions of  this  rising  commerce.  JS^ature  has  favored  this  in 
many  ways.  True,  an  ocean  lies  between  the  two  countries, 
but  it  is  an  ocean  singularly  free  of  perils,  and  will  become 
at  once  of  ready  and  cheap  intercommunication.  Towards 
fostering  this  intercourse,  I  need  not  say  that  you,  sir,  and 
those  whom  you  represent  on  this  occasion,  have  an  important 
duty  to  perform.  I  trust  that  the  courtesies  everywhere 
extended  to  the  embassy,  will  satisfy  the  government  they 
represent  of  the  high  value  placed  upon  their  friendship. 

With  much  esteem,  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  D.  MOEGAI^. 
Mr.  Elliot  C.  Cowdin. 


60 

FROM  THE  BRITISH  MINISTER. 

Washington,  June  21, 1868. 

Sir  :  I  shall  be  mucli  obliged  to  you  if  you  will  express  to 
the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  dinner  to  be  given 
to  the  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame,  and  his  associates  of  the 
Chinese  Legation,  my  sincere  gratitude  for  the  honor  they 
have  done  me  in  inviting  me  to  that  dinner. 

However  much  I  sympathize  with  Mr.  Burlingame,  and 
with  the  objects  of  his  mission,  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  quite 
impossible  for  me,  with  a  due  regard  to  the  duties  of  my  own 
mission,  to  absent  myself  just  now  from  Washington ;  and  I 
therefore  beg  you  to  present  my  excuses  to  the  Committee, 
and  to  express  my  regret  that  I  cannot  do  myself  the  honor 
of  accepting  their  invitation. 

I  remain,  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

EDWAED  THOENTOX. 
Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Esq. 


FROM  THE  FRENCH  MINISTER. 

Legation  de  France,  aux  Etats-Unis,  ) 
Washington,  11  Juin,  1868.  f 

Monsieur  :  L'invitation,  que  vous  m'avez  fait  I'honneur  de 
m'adresser  au  nom  du  comite  que  vous  presidez,  vient  de  me 
parvenir.  J'aurais  ete  heureux  de  I'accepter  et  de  donner  a 
mon  ancien  collegue,  M.  Anson  Burlingame  un  temoignage 
de  ma  sincijre  estime  en  assistant  au  diner  qui  lui  est  donne 
par  la  Yille  de  Kew  York,  si  mes  occupations  ne  me  faisaient 
craindre  de  ne  pouvoir  quitter  Washington  a  I'epoque  in- 
diquee. 

Je  vous  prie  done  a  regret,  de  vouloir  bien  accepter  mes 
excuses. 


61 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  avec  mes  remerciments  I'assurance  de  ma 

consideration  la  plus  distinguee. 

BEKTHEMY. 
Monsieur  Elliot  C.  Cowdin. 


Prussian  Legation,  June  11,  1868. 

Sir  :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  8th  inst.,  with  the 
obliging  invitation  to  a  public  dinner  to  be  given  by  the  citi- 
zens of  iS'ew  York  to  the  Honorable  Anson  Burlingame  and 
his  associates  of  the  Chinese  Embassy. 

In  answer,  I  beg  to  express  my  sincere  regret  that  my  offi- 
cial duties  will  not  allow  me  to  leave  Washington  at  the  time 
indicated  in  your  letter. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 
Elliot  C.  CowDm,  Esq.,  FE.  v.  GEKOLT. 

Chairman,  &c.,  New  York. 


Belgian  Legation,         ) 
Washington,  Jane  10,  1868.  f 

Sm :   I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your 
letter  dated  June  8th. 

I  very  much  regret  that  arrangements  previously  made,  and 
which  cannot  be  altered,  must  prevent  my  being  in  IS^ew 
York  on  the  23d  instant,  and  my  availing  myself  of  the  in- 
vitation I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  through  you,  to 
attend  the  dinner  given  to  the  Chinese  Mission. 
I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

MAUEICE  DELFOSSE. 
Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Esq., 

Chairman,  &c.,  &c.,  IN'ew  York. 


62 

Newport,  R.  I.,  June  17th,  1868. 

Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Esq.,  JSTew  York, 

Sir  :  Your  note  of  the  8th  inst.  inviting  me  to  attend  a 
public  dinner  to  be  given  bj  the  citizens  of  New  York  to  the 
Chinese  embassy  on  Tuesday  next,  has  just  reached  me  at  this 
place. 

Whilst  fully  appreciating  the  courtesy  thus  extended  to  me, 
I  regret  that  personal  circumstances  make  it  impossible  for 
me  to  accept  the  invitation  to  be  present  on  this  interesting 
occasion. 

Please  accept,  sir,  the  assurance  of  my  high  consideration. 
N.  W.  DE  WETTEESTEDT, 

Minister  of  Sweden  and  NorwoA/. 


FBOM  THE  SPANISH  MINISTER. 

Washington,  June  22, 1868. 

Sir  :  I  have  received  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  a 
public  banquet  to  be  given  by  the  citizens  of  New  York  to 
the  Chinese  embassy  on  Tuesday  next,  23d  instant. 

I  regret  to  answer  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  accept,  as  I 
would  desire,  the  invitation,  as  many  pressing  business  pre- 
vent me  actually  to  leave  Washington. 

Please  accept  my  cordial  thanks,  and  believe  me  respect- 
fully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

FACUNDO  GONI. 
To  Hon.  Elliot  C.  Cowdin, 

New  York. 


63 

FROM  THE  RIGHT  REVEREND  BISHOP  POTTER,  N.  Y. 

38  E.  22d  Street,  June  15, 1868. 
Dear  Sir  :  On   mj   return   to  town  I  found  your  favor 
honoring  me  with  an  invitation  to  the  public  dinner  to  be 
given  on  the  23d,  by  the  citizens  of  New  York,  to  Mr.  Bur- 
lingame,  and  his  associates  of  the  Chinese  embassy. 

I  highly  appreciate  the  interest  and  importance  of  this  re- 
markable movement,  and  would  gladly  unite  in  doing  honor 
to  those  who  hav^  a  leading  part  in  it.  But  I  regret  to  say 
that  my  engagements  will  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of  ac- 
cepting your  kind  invitation. 

Yeiy  faithfully  youi-s, 

HOKATIO  POTTEK. 
To  Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Esq. 


FROM   THE   MOST   REVEREND   ARCHBISHOP  McCLOSKEY. 

New  York,  Jwne  13,  1868. 
Hon.  Elliot  C.  Cowdin, 

Dear  Sir  :  I  beg  to  acknowledge,  with  many  thanks, 
the  receipt  of  your  kind  favor  of  the  9th  inst.,  in  which  you, 
as  chairman  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  invite  me  to 
attend  a  public  dinner,  to  be  given  by  the  citizens  of  New 
York  to  the  Honorable  Anson  Burlingame,  and  his  associates 
of  the  Chinese  embassy. 

I  should  be  most  happy  to  unite  with  my  fellow-citizens 
in  paying  this  mark  of  honor  and  respect  to  such  distinguished 
visitors  and  guests,  but  I  regret  to  say  that,  on  the  day  men- 
tioned, I  shall  not  be  in  the  city. 

With  renewed  thanks  for  your  courteous  invitation, 
I  remain,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully  yours, 
JOHX  M'CLOSKEY, 
A'hy  of  N^  York, 


64 

RosLTN,  Long  Island,  June  9, 1868. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  An  embassy  to  tlie  United  States,  from 
the  vast  and  populous  empire  of  China,  commissioned  to  estab- 
lish liberal  commercial  relations  between  the  two  countries,  one 
of  which  has  for  so  many  centuries  been  closed  against  the 
rest  of  the  world,  is  an  event  of  such  magnitude  and  import- 
ance, to  say  nothing  of  its  novelty,  as  to  make  it  well  worthy 
of  the  public  demonstration  which  it  is  proposed  to  make  on 
the  23d  of  this  month. 

While  I  thank  the  committee,  of  which  you  are  chair- 
man, for  their  obliging  invitation  to  be  present,  I  am  pre- 
vented, by  various  causes,  from  accepting  it. 

I  am,  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

W.  C.  BEYANT. 
Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  Esq., 

Chairman,  etc.,  etc. 


I,  1868.    j 


Legation  op  Italy, 
Washington,  10  Juin, 

Cher  Monsieur:  Je  viens  de  recevoir  une  lettre  de 
votre  part  du  8  Juin,  pour  une  invitation  a  diner. 

Tres  reconnaissant  de  votre  invitation,  je  dois  tontefois 
me  priver  du  plaisir  d'en  profiter,  car  des  affaires  du 
service  me  retiennent  a  Washington 

Yerullez  agreer  V  expression  de  ma  plus  parfaite  con- 
sideration. 

M.  CEERUTI. 
Monsieur  Elliot  C.  Cowdin. 


65 

Washington,  D.  C,  lUh  of  June,  1868. 

Sir  :  On  mv  return  to  Washington  this  morning,  after  a 
short  absence,  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  the  letter  of  8th 
inst.,  through  which  jou  kindly  inform  me,  that  I  am  invited 
to  attend  a  public  dinner,  given  by  the  citizens  of  New  York 
to  the  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame,  and  his  associates  of  the  Chi- 
nese embassy,  on  Tuesday,  23d  of  June. 

Honored,  as  I  should  feel,  to  participate  in  this  demonstra- 
tion of  sympathy  and  consideration  shown  to  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  wliose  eminent  qualities  have  placed  him  at 
the  head  of  a  work  of  civilization,  in  which  my  country,  too, 
claims  to  share  to  the  best  of  its  abilities,  I  am  extremely 
sorry  that  official  duties  will  retain  me  in  Washington  at  the 
time  fixed  for  the  entertainment. 

In  returning  you  my  best  thanks,  I,  therefore,  beg  you  to 

present  my  excuses  to  the  Committee,  and  remain,  sir. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

F.  BILLE, 

Charge  d'affaires  for  Denmark. 
Hon.  Elliot  C.  Cotvt)ix. 

I^ew  York. 


ToS!  ^"2"=^ "Pf  " 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO— ^     202  Main  Library 


LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2                               3 

4 

5                               ( 

b 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

1  -month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405 

6-month  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books  to  Circulation  Desk 

Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

MAR-illCifll     •«**^ 

iiS^OK.  F9   4tkl 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  3/80          BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

r 


YC  42295 


2)576  -i 
M188704    ^'^^^ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


